


lost and (almost) found

by Jazzfordshire



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Lena doesn’t recognize her because of the glasses, Minor Alex Danvers/Sam Arias, Neighbours AU, Public Sex, hookup, they hook up at a bar and then become neighbours, we stan a beautiful clueless lesbian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-13 02:54:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 26,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13561200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jazzfordshire/pseuds/Jazzfordshire
Summary: “Lena, she’s been staring at you for the last 5 minutes. Nonstop, I’m telling you.”“How do you know she isn’t staring at you?”“I can tell. If she was staring at me like that, I’d be eating her out in the bathroom as we speak.”“Jess!”ORLena and Kara meet at a bar, but lose track of each other – a few months later, Lena gets a new neighbour. As it turns out, glasses and a ponytail really are a good disguise.





	1. Chapter 1

_I shouldn’t be here._

‘Here’ is a new lesbian bar in downtown National City, and Lena feels distinctly out of place.

It’s not that she’s in the closet, per say. Her friends and family all know that she’s gay (to the abject horror of her mother), and Lex celebrated her official coming out by announcing a cheesy “Luthor Corp Diversity Initiative” and throwing her a frankly embarrassing party. She’s ‘out and proud’, as they say, as much as Lillian surely wishes that she wasn’t.

It’s more that she’s…private. And sort of well-known.

Not as well-known as Lex, of course. He’s the face of the company, and he’s good at it – charming, easygoing, funny. She’s the younger sibling, the adopted child, the somewhat socially awkward scientist who does the legwork. She’s been told (mostly by Jess) that she comes off as cold or guarded (or, in Jess’ words, like a stone-cold bitch). Lex has always told her that she would do great in the boardroom, but besides taking a few business classes to appease her mother while she completed her degrees, she refused to follow Lex and Lillian’s footsteps and go into the corporate side of Luthor Corp.

She prefers it that way – the thought of actually running the company fills her with cold dread. She’s perfectly happy in the lab, developing and building the technologies that make her brother famous. But even so, Lex likes to drag her out of her underground lair and show her off, and she’s been the unwilling subject of several magazine spreads on women in science and technology, one of them recent enough that she’s been recognized a few times in the last month. She knows that it’s only because Lex is proud of her and wants her to get the recognition she deserves, but most of the time she’d really prefer to stay anonymous.

Lena sips her scotch, savouring the burn as she crosses and uncrosses her legs nervously. Try as she might, she can’t stop her gaze from locking on a single figure across the bar.

“God, she’s so beautiful.”

On the other side of the table, Jess sighs.

“Lena, you useless lesbian, just go _talk to her_.”

‘Her’ is a woman on the dance floor – tall, blonde, muscular, and _stupidly_ attractive. Her long hair is down in gentle waves, and she’s dressed in a tight black shirt that shows off her arms beautifully which, Lena thinks, should be illegal. She wants to see those biceps flex. She wants to _lick_ them, for god’s sake. She moves with liquid grace, exuding the kind of confidence and easy sex appeal that has never come easily to Lena. Lena can impress or even intimidate in her element if given enough time to prepare, but _dance_?

Absolutely not.

The woman is dancing with two others, both seemingly brunettes. She doesn’t seem to be dancing particularly closely with either of them, but Lena feels the sting of jealousy anyway – they’re both stunning, although Lena can only clearly see one of their faces. The visible one is tall and willowy, and the other is short-haired and dangerous-looking even in the hazy light. The three of them cut an intimidating figure in the crowd.

“God, the way you’re pining, I’m surprised you’re not still a virgin.”

“I _will_ get you fired, Jess.”

It was Jess who dragged her out to this bar in the first place, claiming that Lena needed to ‘ _loosen up and get laid, before I hire you an escort’_. Lena reluctantly agreed – it had been a while since her last relationship – but now that she’s here, she’s realizing exactly how far outside her comfort zone this is.

The club is all thumping bass and flashing lights and _people_ , none of whom are drawing Lena’s interest (with the exception of the blonde Amazon across the room), and while Lena is perfectly capable of being charming when she’s in control of the situation, she feels distinctly out of control here. What’s the protocol for flirting at a nightclub? _Do people still send drinks?_

The song ends and the blonde woman and her friends head back to the bar, laughing. As her short-haired friend orders three of something, the object of Lena’s attentions turns to scan the room idly, and her bright eyes fall on their table.

Blushing furiously at the mere seconds of eye contact, Lena averts her own gaze to study her drink.

“Lena, she’s looking right at you.”

“She was looking around the whole room.”

“No, she is _staring_ at you. In a lesbian manner.”

Lena burns with curiosity. Unable to stop herself, she looks up, and finds that Jess was right. She is is looking right at her, with a small, confident smirk on her face. As Lena watches she bites her lip and drags her eyes up Lena’s seated figure. Lena feels the gaze like a physical touch – she’s throbbing, heating up all over just from a single look.

_I really need to calm down._

She gulps down her drink, hoping the burn of the alcohol will steady her.

“Go talk to her! Go get the anonymous hookup you’ve been needing!”

 “She’s way out of my league. There’s no way I’m going over there.”

“Out of your – Lena, how many times do I have to tell you how hot you are?”

“You’re my friend, you have to say that.”

“I most certainly do _not_.”

It’s true – Jess is unerringly truthful about when Lena comes into work looking like a mess. And generally, Lena is confident about her appearance. But even so, the tall, fit woman in the sinfully tight jeans is in another world entirely.

“Lena, she’s been staring at you for the last 5 minutes. Nonstop, I’m telling you.”

“How do you know she isn’t staring at _you_?”

“I can tell. If she was staring at _me_ like that, I’d be eating her out in the bathroom as we speak.”

_“Jess!”_

Jess shakes her head as Lena finishes her drink and coughs, the too-big mouthful burning its way down her throat. She feels tipsy despite only being two drinks in – usually at this level of inebriation she’d be at home with a bubble bath or a book, safe from any awkward human interactions.

“Lena, why are you so nervous? I know you have people issues, but I’ve never seen you like this before.”

“You’ve also never taken me to a lesbian bar with the express purpose of making me hook up with a stranger before.”

“…point taken.”

Lena drums her fingers on the table. Infuriatingly, Jess is right – usually if a woman was staring at her, she’d be batting her eyelashes with the best of them, enticing her to approach. For some reason, this woman makes her feel like an awkward teenager again.

“I should just go home.”

Jess lets out a long suffering sigh. “Jesus, Lena, do I have to do _everything_ around here?”

Before Lena can protest Jess has downed the rest of her martini and is out of her seat, walking resolutely over to the bar where the three beautiful women sit together.

_Jess Huang, I am going to murder you._

Lena’s face burns as Jess exchanges words with the blonde, clearly gesturing towards Lena. Lena looks away quickly, but catches the amused grin on her face. Lena is reminded suddenly of boarding school, of passing notes with ‘do you like me: check yes or no’ and having her heart crushed by experimenting straight girls.

_God, she must think I’m ridiculous._

Just as Lena is contemplating trying to drown herself in the dregs of her scotch glass, her peripheral vision is filled with black fabric and blonde hair. She freezes, her instinct to run becoming almost overpowering as her mind goes blank and her heart picks up to a dangerous speed.

A warm hand touches her arm, and Lena finally raises her eyes to the woman standing beside her.

She’s even more stunning up close. Her eyes are a shade of blue, dark in the strange lighting of the club, and lined with smoky makeup. She has an elegant neck and sharp jaw, her arms are the stuff of dreams, and the top few buttons of her tight shirt are undone.  She’s slightly sweaty from dancing, but it only seems to make her sparkle.

“Hi.” Her smile is charming and friendly, and strangely disarming. Lena’s flight instinct recedes as the woman’s hand slides down her arm to rest on her wrist.

“Hi.” Lena parrots, blinking and trying her best to seem interesting. Everything she’s ever known about being flirtatious seems to have exited her brain, and she can’t seem to figure out what to do with her body – _how do you flirt while sitting? Should I move my hands? She’s touching me, do I touch back? Should I stand? I should ask her for her name -_

“Do you want to dance?”

Lena’s runaway thoughts are cut off, and she nods mutely.

The woman chuckles, and Lena smiles weakly back. Before she can think of anything remotely intelligent to say, she’s being pulled onto the dance floor by the hand, and by the time her brain catches up, she’s already in the middle of the crowd.

The woman stops, seeming to find a good spot, and starts to dance. For a few seconds Lena is struck dumb again – her movements are so easy, and Lena’s body feels heavy and awkward in comparison. She starts to sway her hips minutely, keeping a foot or so of distance between them and shimmying awkwardly to the music, painfully aware of the stiffness of her movement.

To her credit, she doesn’t make fun of Lena. She does laugh, but it’s offset by her next words, shouted over the music.

“You’re really cute.”

Lena feels heat flare from her shoulders to her forehead. She stops dancing, wrapping her arms around herself self-consciously.

 “I’m…not a very good dancer.”

Her new dance partner laughs again, and Lena is surprised that she doesn’t feel like she’s being made fun of. She seems almost affectionate. “Everyone is a good dancer! You just need the right teacher!”

The song changes to one with a slower, heavier beat, and the woman eases Lena’s hand from where it’s clenched around her own bicep. She uses it to spin Lena a few times, around and around until she can’t help but laugh. The laughter is cut off as the spinning stops and she’s pulled in close – she’s breathless and a bit dizzy and suddenly her entire front is pressed against solid muscle. The blonde’s face is inches from hers, and Lena can see the softness of her glossy lips, can smell her coconut shampoo and feel puffs of breath on her cheek. Strong hands spin her once more so that her back is flush with the woman’s chest, and a low voice whispers in her ear.

“Let me show you.”

Lena nods. Her heart is pounding in a way that has nothing to do with the dancing.

Slowly the blonde starts to grind her hips, holding Lena close so that she moves with her. She lets go of Lena’s hand so that she can slide both to her waist, pulling until Lena’s ass is pressing into her pelvis. Her grip is so strong, her body is so solid behind her, and Lena finds herself relaxing enough to lay her hands over the slightly larger ones on her waist. She guides them to slide down, down, until warm fingers touch the bare skin of her thighs at the hem of her dress and then back up, to rest low on her hips. She feels brazen, the position and the slower beat of the music and the pure heat radiating off the woman behind her making her nerves disappear.

The bass throbs and she can feel it through her whole body, her clit is throbbing in time with it, her pulse is roaring, and most of the blood in her body has already rushed between her thighs. She gasps when she feels hot breath on her neck, secretly thanking her past self for thinking to wear her hair in a styled ponytail. She arches until the muscle is taut and exposed, hoping that she’ll take the hint – and then yes, _yes_ , there are lips, ghosting over her skin.

Finding her confidence at last, Lena slides a hand up to grip the back of the woman’s neck, pulling her mouth closer to her exposed throat. Thankfully, she takes the hint, and the next thing Lena knows there are hot, wet kisses being laid from her shoulder up to her ear. A tongue swirls and teeth scrape and Lena is sure there will be noticeable marks there tomorrow but she’ll gladly wear scarves for the next few days if it means this feeling won’t stop.

_I really should ask for her name._

They’re hardly even dancing, now – they’re just grinding almost obscenely to the beat, and Lena is on fire. The blonde’s hands are all over her body – they move from her hips down to her thighs and up to scrape against the slight swell of her stomach over the fabric of her dress, skirting over the undersides of her breasts before sliding back down.

Lena’s breath is coming in pants; she wants those hands on her skin. She wants them to pull her dress up over her hips, to pull it down at the neckline and expose her chest, she wants strong fingers inside her and that talented tongue in her mouth.

She can do at least one of those things right now.

Before she can lose her nerve she spins around, readjusts her grip, and pulls her in for a kiss.

At first, it’s like any other first kiss Lena’s ever had – it’s slightly too hard, and their teeth clack slightly as she tilts her head and adjusts, but then their lips slot together properly and their tongues dart out almost in unison to meet each other and Lena’s lipstick doesn’t have a chance in hell of making it through this intact because suddenly she’s being absolutely _devoured_.

It’s messy and deep, and Lena is clinging to broad shoulders as the rest of the world is muted. The pulsing music is fading, the jostling of other sweaty people dancing around them ceases to bother her, and somewhere in the back of her head she acknowledges that if asked, she would take this girl home without question.

As if she’s read Lena’s mind, the blonde pulls back suddenly, her chest heaving and her pupils blown out. She licks her kiss-swollen lips, stained slightly red by Lena’s lipstick, and Lena is sure that her mouth isn’t faring much better.

“Come on.”  

Her hand is grabbed and she’s being dragged through the throng of dancers. Lena has no idea where they’re headed – her head is foggy, and most of her mental faculties are focused on the slickness of her inner thighs as she walks – but before long she’s shouldering a door open and they’re standing in the surprisingly empty women’s bathroom.

The woman stops then, looking back at Lena as if she’s waiting for something, despite looking wild and ready to pounce.

_She’s waiting for me._

Shoving her last doubts into the recesses of her mind, she opens the nearest stall and leans against the wall inside, beckoning with a single finger. In seconds the door is latched behind them and Lena is pinned to the wall, lost in another toe-curling kiss.

 _I’m going to fuck a stranger. In public._ The thought is embarrassing enough to make her burn, but somehow that just makes it hotter.

“I never do this.” Lena gasps, feeling the need to justify herself to the stranger whose teeth are currently scraping her jawline.

“Me neither.” There’s a nip of pain, and then a soothing tongue follows.

Lena chokes out a laugh. “God, why are we doing this?”

“Because I can’t keep my hands off you, and if given a few more minutes I might have been taking you on the dance floor.”

Lena moans as her skirt is pushed up to her hips and a muscular thigh presses into her. She’s absolutely sure that she’s leaving an embarrassing wet stain on the denim even through her underwear, but it feels too good to care.

“Do you like that idea?” The woman rasps in her ear, biting down on the soft skin of her earlobe as Lena arches helplessly into the pressure against her clit. “Doing this in the middle of the floor, where everyone could see?”

Lena barely suppresses a groan at that, desperately rubbing herself on the strong thigh and feeling her arousal climb higher with every passing second. This is ridiculous - she’s dry-humping a complete stranger in a club bathroom. She didn’t even do things like this when she was in college and it was somewhat expected, but she can’t seem to stop. A slightly calloused hand slips between them and into Lena’s underwear, and the woman exhales shakily as her fingers slide easily through – Lena is more wet than she can ever remember being, and there’s no end in sight.

“Is this okay?” A pair of crystal blue eyes are suddenly locked on Lena’s, open and sweet, and some of the strangeness melts away at the clear request for consent. Relaxing slightly, Lena nods, burying a hand in long golden hair and biting at the full lips hovering inches away from her mouth.

If she’s going to do this, she might as well do it right.

“Fuck me. Please.”

With permission given, two long fingers slip inside her and a thumb slots hard against her clit and for a moment she forgets her own name.

Dimly she feels her leg being lifted to rest on the toilet seat and the change in angle makes it even better – familiar pressure builds in her abdomen, growing exponentially at each reminder that she’s not alone in her bed with her vibrator but that someone’s fingers are inside her and someone is breathing hotly against her collarbone and that someone is almost _unbearably_ hot. Lena can see her muscles flexing as she fucks her senseless, can feel them moving as she unbuttons that black shirt with trembling hands and runs them over the most gloriously defined back she’s ever seen in person. She almost wishes that she had the willpower to push her away slightly, just so she could see what she knows must be fucking _magnificent_ abs – as it is, Lena selfishly pulls her closer instead, urging her strong fingers deeper.

Her orgasm is coming like a tide, unstoppable and powerful, and this woman controls it like some kind of sea deity.

She’s snapped out of the haze when the bathroom door opens with a bang. She hears a few people enter, chatting and fixing their makeup, and her stomach drops.

Lena expects the girl to stop, starts to pull her away by the hair and tries to slip her foot back down to the floor, but the blonde just grins, claps a hand over Lena’s mouth, and speeds up. She murmurs in Lena’s ear, just loud enough for her to hear over the chatter and the distant music.

“Shhh. Don’t let them hear you come all over my hand.”

And _god_ if that doesn’t make Lena whimper and clench harder, bringing her closer to the edge as long, talented fingers work some kind of magic under her dress and her teeth mark Lena’s neck.

The strong hand stays over her mouth, muffling her desperate noises, and the loss of control is intoxicating. There are people all around, people who could hear her, could look under the stall and see Lena’s heel intertwined with a pair of leather boots, people who might know that Lex Luthor’s little sister is in this stall being fucked within an inch of her life by this nameless blonde goddess.

She’s close, so close, and the goddess in question is panting against her neck, murmuring quiet affirmations, grinding slightly into the back of her own wrist as she fucks Lena. On a whim Lena unbuttons the tight pants currently bracketed between her thighs and shoves a shaking hand inside. The angle is awkward and the fit is tight, but she meets slick heat and presses, rubs as much as she can while she’s on the edge of coming.

The pressure is apparently enough. There’s a stifled cry against her shoulder, and then frantic movement as her hips match the speed of her hand inside Lena. She slips in a third finger, and Lena bites down hard on the shoulder her forehead was resting on to keep from shouting out at the _perfect_ stretch. She tastes sweat and skin and the spike of pain seems to push the blonde even further.

“Fuck – yes, _fuck._ “

It’s all too much, the wet heat on her fingers and the pressure inside of her and the breathy cries in her ear – like the beat of the throbbing club music she can still hear outside the bathroom her body explodes into wild soundwaves, pulsing in time with her wild heartbeat. Sweet, aching _relief_ spreads from the fingers inside her to the base of her skull, and she breathes in deep gasps as she speeds up her own hand as much as she can in the aftermath.

“God, yes –“ In seconds the breathy noises against her neck are turning into surprisingly loud vocalizations, simultaneously hot and sort of endearing. It’s like a crescendo of little wails, climbing in pitch and intensity, finally peaking in a long groan as she comes, twitching against Lena’s fingers. The sound burns itself into Lena’s memory.

Before Lena can work herself into a panicked frenzy in the aftermath, soft lips are on hers again, obliterating her higher thought. The kisses are slow and languid, and surprisingly heartfelt – she bites at a swollen lower lip and feels the blonde smile as she gently removes her fingers. Lena finds herself missing them, the emptiness feeling jarring after the passion of their tryst.  

There’s a few beats of quiet as they both catch their breath, and then the sound of giggles on the other side of the stall door as the group of girls heads back to the dance floor, leaving the bathroom empty again.

“I think they heard us.”

Lena snorts, pulling her hand free of the tight jeans and flexing it a few times, feeling the tingle as the blood returns to the digits. “Well, they definitely heard _you_.”

The woman laughs, her eyes crinkling adorably. Lena lets her leg drop back down to the floor, straightening slightly and pulling her dress down. Her slick fingers leave a shiny mark on the hem of her skirt, and her cheeks flare red again at the reminder. They burn an even deeper red as the blonde slides her own wet fingers into her mouth, humming with pleasure at the taste while she runs her free hand absently through her hair. Her hand now clean, she starts to re-button her shirt, tucking it into her still-open jeans.

The whole thing is so casual and strangely comfortable that Lena is left blinking, watching in slight amazement as the woman who was inside her mere moments ago pulls up her zipper and peeks through the crack in the stall door.

“I think it’s clear.”

The latch slides free and the door swings open with a squeak – the blonde sweeps her arm in an exaggerated show of gallantry as she holds it open for Lena, and Lena giggles despite herself.

Finally they stand at the sink together, the space between them seeming like a gulf as they both struggle to find something to say.

 _Would it be rude to wash my hands_?

With a nervous laugh, the woman rubs the back of her neck and opens her mouth with the intent to speak, but she’s interrupted by the door swinging open and hitting the wall with a bang. Lena jumps at the noise, her hand flying to her chest as her heart races for what seems like the hundredth time that night.

In the doorway is one of the women from the dance floor earlier – the tall one, who looks like she just stepped off of a runway in Milan. She also looks well and truly plastered, her hair mussed at the back and her eyes wide and excited.

 “…Sam?” The blonde looks surprised to see her, and a little miffed. The woman – Sam, Lena knows now – sighs in relief and grabs her arm, pulling her towards the door.

“ _There_ you are, I’ve been looking everywhere, we thought you left! Your dumb sister tried to outdrink a 6 foot muscular lesbian shot-for-shot and now she’s puking in the alley.”

“I – Sam, I’m sort of in the middle of –“

But Sam is already leading her away, still talking. “I told her she didn’t need to do that to impress me, but you know how she is when she feels challenged, she’s unstoppable – don’t get me wrong, it was very briefly _super_ hot, but now she’s sick and she won’t stop asking for you –“

As she disappears around the corner, Lena hears a shouted “I’ll be right back, stay there!”, and then the door swings shut again and she’s gone. Lena is alone, and feeling more self-conscious with every passing second.

_I can’t believe I just did that._

She’d actually had an anonymous hookup in a toilet stall, in a very much _not empty_ restroom, mostly-clothed and completely shameless, and somehow it had been the single most erotic experience of her young life.

Putting her palms on the counter and leaning forward, she takes a deep breath. She can still smell the woman’s scent on her clothes, coconut and rum and sex, and she glances at the door again as it opens, hopeful. She sighs as a few women file in, one of them blatantly checking Lena out and whispering something to her friend – _she looks well-fucked –_ and suddenly a sort of panic wells up inside her.

She _does_ look well-fucked. Her ponytail is slightly off-centre, her lips are swollen and red, and her matte lipstick has rubbed off just enough that it’s noticeable, smudged slightly at the corners. Not to mention the three brand-new, shiny hickeys on her neck and shoulder. She’s deliciously sore, the evidence of her arousal still wet on her inner thighs. A blush creeps up her neck, and she fidgets. She wants to go find her mystery girl, ask to see her again, do something about the ridiculous chemistry she feels between them but the room feels too hot suddenly, too bright, too loud. She feels out of control again, out of her element and lost, and this time there’s no Jess to keep her from running.

The desire to see this strange night through to the end is overpowered by her instincts. She wants to go home and clean up – shower and get in her soft clothes and curl up in bed and never leave again.

Jess is nowhere to be found when Lena finally stumbles back out towards the bar. The blonde isn’t there either, or her two friends.

_She must have gone home._

With no incentive to stay, Lena gives in and makes her getaway. She leans against the wall outside of the club, gulping deep lungfuls of cool air as she tries to calm down.

_This is silly. I’m an adult, I had a good time, and that’s it._

She slides into the first cab she sees, artfully stealing it from a group of drunk girls who give her the finger as the car pulls out onto the street.

As the city lights flash by, Lena leans her head against the window, watching as her breath fogs the glass. She reaches up to trace an idle pattern in the condensation, stopping when she looks at her own fingers, still covered in the now-dried evidence of her very surprising night. In that moment, she wishes more than anything that she had gotten the girl’s number.

_I didn’t even get her name._

 

* * *

 

Exactly four days later, Lena’s world shifts irrevocably.

“Hey, Lena.”

Lena looks up from her tablet, startled. Lex never visits her in the lab – ‘the rat cage’, he’s always called it. Windowless and full of squinty technicians and engineers. He looks distinctly uncomfortable, his hands clasped behind his back. Lena notes that his usually-immaculate tie is loose, his bald head slightly shiny. A sense of foreboding fills her.

“Lex? What are you doing down here?”

Lex makes a familiar face – it’s the face he always pulled when he’d done something stupid and was about to get in trouble, a face that tells Lena that he has some very, _very_ bad news.

“Remember those investments I told you about? The, uh, stock market investments.”

“The ones that were ‘guaranteed to pay off’? Yes, I remember.” Lena says drily. Her brother is a brilliant man, but he’s a gambler, and Lena knows it. She warned him in the beginning when he got into the stock trade, but he didn’t listen.

He never listened.

“Yeah. Well, I may have gotten involved in some…inside information.” Lex says, rubbing his neck and shrugging helplessly.

“Lex…” Lena says, disbelievingly. “You didn’t.”

“I did. The police are going to be here in a few minutes.”

_The police?_

“Are you…how bad is it? Will you still run the company?”

Lex shakes his head, tugging on his tie. “Can’t exactly run the company from jail, Lee.”

“You know I _hate_ that nickname.”

“I know.” He looks at her sadly. “I’m really sorry, Lena, but mom is leaving too. She was too close to all this, she’s going to the Bahamas for a few months until this all cools off.”

“She’s…going…” Lena stutters, her heart sinking. “So…who’s going to run the company?” She repeats the question in the strange hopes that her suspicion will be denied.

Lex looks at her sympathetically, and Lena knows the real reason he came down here. Her heart starts to pound, her tablet slipping from her grip as her palms sweat.

“Lex…no.”

“I’m sorry, Lena.”

“Please – _please_ don’t make me do this.”

He comes closer as she starts to panic, taking her hands and squeezing them. “You’re the only Luthor left to run it right now. You minored in business, you’ve watched me do it for years. You can do this.”

“I’m 26, Lex! Nobody is going to take me seriously.”

“They will. You’re a genius. Way smarter than me. Show them that Luthor steel, huh?” He tries for a smile, but she can see the sadness in his eyes, and hers well up in response.

“Why did you have to go and be such a moron?” Lena chokes out, managing to hold them back with a titan effort.

“It’s not my fault you got all the smarts, sis.”

 

* * *

 

The next three weeks are a whirlwind. Besides the occasional (and sometimes more than occasional) vibrator-induced fantasy session, she doesn’t have much time to waste thinking about her mystery woman from the club. She’s considered going back and hoping to run into her again, but soon enough she doesn’t have time to sleep, let alone go out.

Lena wouldn’t be surprised if this is what the fifth circle of hell looks like – 12 hour days of endless paperwork and accounts, million-dollar decisions placed on her shoulders, and condescending white men in suits challenging her every move in the boardroom. Thank god for Jess – as Lex’s former assistant and now hers, she helps Lena orient herself and has a startling amount of insight into the inner workings of the company. It seems like most of the board is happy to continue running Luthor Corp the same way they always have – slightly shady business practices, using proprietary technology to help the privileged and make more money.

Not on Lena’s watch.

She might only be acting CEO, but the more she finds out about how Luthor Corp has been run for the last 10 years, the more she starts to think that maybe this is where she should be. She misses Lex, and she hates every second of this corporate hell, but it’s clear that he’s been doing Lillian’s bidding for too long.

The company has a chance to actually do something important. Help people. They could combat climate change, famine, poverty. They could do so much _more_. As much as she yearns to return to her place in the lab with every fiber of her being, she feels even more driven to do something good with the opportunity she’s been given.

So, when Lillian finally returns from her self-imposed exile, Lena doesn’t hesitate.

“Lena, dear. Four months, and the first thing you ask is for me to attend a board meeting?” Lillian’s cold voice rings out across the empty boardroom, and Lena stiffens. Taking a deep breath, she finishes placing the folders in front of each chair and takes a seat at the head of the table.

“Mother. Choose a seat, the board should be here in a few minutes.”

“I believe _you’re_ sitting in my seat.” Lillian sounds amused, as if Lena is a disobedient child. Lena quells the anger that rises up at the tone, and plasters on a patented cold Luthor smile.

“We’ll see.”

The door opens and board members start filing in, then, and Lillian is forced to choose the seat at the other end of the table, directly facing Lena. When everyone is seated, Lena stands back up, takes a steadying breath, and begins.

“Good morning, everyone. If you’ll all open your documents?”

45 minutes later, Lillian’s every dirty business secret is spread out in front of her, and her amusement has turned to cold anger.

“Lena, just what do you think you’re doing?” She says in a dangerous whisper. “You can’t run this company without me.”

“I’ve been doing just fine for almost six months, mother.”

Lillian laughs. “They’ll never vote to make you CEO.” She looks around the room, at the sea of uncomfortable faces. “Your ideas are against their interests.”

“They will if they want to avoid jail time. After all, if you’ll stoop low enough to embezzle directly from your board members…” Lena slides a final document from the folder, and the suited men around her scramble to do the same. “What won’t you do?”

Lillian goes pale, her face tight as several men exclaim over the figures in front of them. Over 60 million, taken from their companies as a whole in the last year.

“You may not all agree with my ideas for this company, but the Luthor family owns the majority share, and since I called the police…I’m the only Luthor left.” Lillian’s eyes widen, and she stands up abruptly.

“You’ll regret this, Lena.”

“Goodbye, Lillian.” 

When she adjourns the meeting she goes back to her office, has Jess cancel all her appointments for the day, and goes home with the intention to get plastered and have a good cry.

Her apartment is her only refuge in the shitstorm that her life has become. It’s the same one she’s always lived in, ever since she moved to National City – it’s modest, open concept with warm exposed brick and huge sunny windows, and she loves it. Even when she was working in the lab she could have easily afforded something lavish, but she craves the normalcy of a simple place to make her home in. Now, she stays here because she needs some degree of normalcy when she’s interacting with the 1% every day. And, she can admit, some part of her is honestly hoping that someday soon she’ll be able to go back to her old life.

As she steps out of the elevator, she notes a huge pile of boxes and furniture in front of the apartment beside hers. She hadn’t realized that her old neighbour was moving out – they didn’t interact much beyond curt nods in the hall. She had liked that he was quiet, and seemed to keep similar hours.

This neighbour seems to be less so. Through the apartment’s open door, Lena can hear a voice carry out to the hallway.

“Alex! The table is still downstairs and I _know_ you’re not about to make me drag that thing up by myself, right?”

“You’re strong, Kara, I’m sure you could manage.”

“Okay, get your lazy butt off my couch and come help me.”

Lena steps around an overturned box, its contents now all over the floor – it looks like a hodgepodge assortment of winter scarves, kitchen utensils, and a spilled houseplant – and sighs.

_I hope she’s not this loud all the time._

Just as Lena passes the doorway, two women emerge, one visibly pushing the other in front of her to get her out of the apartment. The woman in front is quite pretty, in an intimidating way – she’s wearing all black and has a strangely familiar short haircut, dyed a dark reddish auburn. Her face is set in mild annoyance as the woman behind her pushes on her shoulders.

Said woman pokes her head out from her hiding spot, and Lena notes blonde hair in a tight ponytail, nice lips, and big blue eyes behind a pair of glasses. It adds up to an attractive picture, and Lena has to blink a few times to collect herself before she’s caught blatantly checking her new neighbour out.

For a few seconds she just stares at Lena, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open slightly. Lena feels a niggling sense of familiarity that she can’t place, but the stress of her day makes her push it aside in favour of glancing longingly at the door to her apartment.

The redhead breaks the strange silence, holding out a hand to shake and introducing herself.

“Sorry, I’m Alex Danvers. This is my sister, Kara – she’s moving in here. Do you live on this floor?”

Lena nods, as Alex’s sister – _Kara_ – opens and closes her mouth a few times.

“I do – right next door actually. I’m Lena.” Lena shakes Alex’s hand, and then hesitantly offers it to Kara as well. Kara closes her mouth with an audible snap and grasps Lena’s hand, holding on just slightly too long.

“Kara. Uh, Danvers. Kara Danvers. This is my apartment.”

_She’s cute, in a dorky way. She’s even more awkward than I am._

Lena smiles politely, taking her hand back. “Right. Well, I’m sure I’ll see you around, Kara Danvers.”

Kara swallows, nods, and abruptly spins on her heel to walk towards the elevator at a fast clip. Her sister stares after her, frowning.

“She’s not usually this weird, I promise. She’ll be a good neighbour.” She looks at Lena appraisingly, her eyes slightly narrowed. “You look really familiar.”

Her chest tightens with anxiety, and Lena nods curtly, offering a tight smile. “I get that a lot. It was nice meeting you, Miss Danvers.”

“Yeah…you, too.”

Satisfied that the strange social interaction is over she opens her own door, locks it behind her, sinks to the floor on the other side, and finally lets herself go. The night is spent in comfortable clothes and a good level of inebriation. To her credit, her new neighbour is surprisingly quiet for most of the day until about 9:30, when most of her tears have dried and she’s lying in bed with her scotch glass cradled in her hand.

Soft tones float through the wall behind her bed, light and sweet. _Singing_. Lena strains to hear the lyrics.

_“I don’t mind standing every day, out on your corner in the pouring rain…”_

Lena snorts in an undignified way that she’s very glad nobody is here to see.

_Maroon 5. My neighbour sings **Maroon 5** before bed. So much for quiet._

As ridiculous as it seems, though, Lena finally drifts easily to sleep to the sound of Kara’s quiet voice.

 

* * *

 

The next morning Lena wakes up a few minutes before her alarm with a dry mouth and a slight headache. She groans and rolls over, slinging an arm over her face, and she’s just contemplating getting up to make herself coffee when she hears it again – a soft voice through the wall, singing.

_At least her hours are the same as mine._

As much as she expects to find it irritating, she instead finds herself smiling as she picks out her clothes for work to the sound of her neighbour’s voice singing _‘wake me up, before you go-go…’._

She doesn’t see Kara again until she comes home from work that night, exhausted from the three-hour board meeting in which she laid out the law and started making the necessary changes to her company. Rebranding, a new name – L-Corp – and a new purpose. She’s looking forward to ordering dinner, having a glass of wine, and relaxing.

As she gets in the lift and presses her floor, she hears a voice call out from the hall.

“Hold the elevator!”

Lena presses the ‘open door’ button, and a few seconds later her neighbour comes barrelling in, her hair in disarray and her hands full of papers and some sort of tape recorder. When she notices Lena her eyes widen again, and she drops a few sheets.

Lena nods at her as she scrambles to pick them up, and the doors close.

There are a few beats of silence, and Lena can feel Kara glancing at her every few seconds. Finally, she speaks.

“Um. I’m really sorry, for how rude I was the other day. Just walking off like that. It was a…stressful day.”

Lena nods, glancing at her. She has a small, hopeful smile, and Lena smiles back, her tension easing slightly. “It’s all right. I’m quite used to people being scared off when they recognize my name.”

“Your name? What’s wrong with the name Lena?” Kara looks genuinely puzzled, and Lena blinks in surprise.

_Okay, maybe she doesn’t recognize me._

The elevator dings loudly, interrupting the moment, and Lena hurries out into the hall.

“Well, um – I’ll see you around?” Kara calls out as Lena fumbles with her keys. She looks back at her, standing in the middle of the hallway in her belted khaki pants and button-up, and manages to smile.

“I’m sure you will. Goodnight, Kara.”

She hears Kara’s soft reply as she closes the door.

“Goodnight…Lena.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter coming soon - we’ll see Kara’s POV of this whole gay mess! And, more smut, because it’s me we’re talking about.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, Kara's perspective of this gay mess! She's soft and in love and poor Lena is just a tired lesbian who needs a hug. Hope you enjoy!

The lights flash dizzyingly and the bass thrums through Kara’s bones as she moves, losing herself in the music.

It isn’t often that she gets to go out and have fun like this, especially not lately – working as Cat Grant’s assistant had eaten up a lot of her free time, and her recent promotion to reporter means that she’s been working twice as hard to prove to Cat that she deserves it. When Alex suggested checking out the new club in town she had almost said no, but she’s glad she didn’t – she needed this.

Alex is a little drunk. She’s actually dancing, for one, and she’s failing spectacularly at hiding how intently she’s watching Sam. Kara knew going in that she was going to end up a third wheel to her sister’s massive crush, but she wishes that one of them would just make a move already. They’re clearly into each other, but both are waiting for the other to say something first. It’s all very gay, and Kara tries her best to ignore them and relax.

_I need another drink._

As the song ends she points to the bar and Alex nods, leading the way out of the crowded dance floor. Kara feels a sort of tingling sensation as she tells Alex her order and Alex places it (along with three tequila shots) – like she’s being watched intently. It’s intriguing rather than unpleasant and she turns to lean against the counter, surveying the club.

Most people are either dancing or seated at tables having their own conversations, but at last her gaze lands on a set of clear eyes staring at her from a nearby table. Kara’s breath actually catches slightly as she takes in her features – she has the sort of face people write songs about. Pale skin, defined jaw, sharp brows, bright red lips. She’s also obviously blushing, and she immediately breaks off the eye contact when she realizes that she’s been caught, staring down at her glass.

Kara doesn’t look away. She takes in her side profile, watches her nervous hands. She has the most elegant fingers Kara has ever seen.

_She’s unfairly beautiful._

To Kara’s delight the woman looks back up, still seeming skittish, and Kara makes a show of biting her lip and dragging her eyes up her figure. And _what_ a figure it is. She’s curvy in a way that makes Kara want to _touch_ – she can see how her thighs spread out slightly on the chair, the outline of her hips and the soft curve of her abdomen. Maybe it’s the two drinks talking, but she wants them pressed against her.

She’s dressed to kill in a black dress, a tight ponytail, and stiletto heels, but she can barely meet Kara’s eyes. Her friend across the table nudges her with her foot and nods in Kara’s direction, saying something inaudible, but the woman shakes her head furiously, still blushing.

It’s absolutely adorable.

Kara grins, feeling her confidence surge with the tequila shot Alex hands her and her new rum and coke, which she downs in a few gulps. She doesn’t take her eyes off the woman at the table, who finishes her drink with a wince and a slight cough and drums her fingers nervously on the table.

_Maybe I should go over there._

She looks jumpy, though. The last thing Kara wants is to make her uncomfortable, as much as she’d love to introduce herself. She’s deep in an internal debate when the woman’s friend finishes her drink and leaves the table, making a furious beeline straight for Kara.

“Hi. I’m Jess.” The woman sticks her hand out, and Kara takes it tentatively.

_Not exactly the one I was hoping to talk to._

“Uh…hi?” Before Kara can introduce herself, the girl is barrelling on.

“Look, my friend over there –“ Jess points to her table, where her beautiful friend is bright red all the way down to her neck and looking into her glass like she’d like to drown herself in it - “has been staring at you all night, and is too much of a wuss to come and talk to you. She thinks you’re out of her league, but I can see you eye-fucking her from here, so clearly that isn’t true.”

Kara laughs, surprised but charmed by her open honesty. “So, you’re saying I should go over there?”

“Dear god, _please_ do. Show her a good time, for both our sakes.”

Decision made, Kara takes a breath, smooths her hair, and makes her way to the table. The woman doesn’t seem to notice her until she’s directly beside her, close enough to see that she has several extra sets of diamond studs in her ears. Her fingers are long and tapered, and surprisingly strong looking as she grips her mostly-empty glass of what looks like scotch with white knuckles.

Kara reaches out a tentative hand to touch warm skin, and the woman turns to look at her with wide eyes. Kara’s breath catches again – even in the darkness of the club she can see that they’re a brilliant green, framed by dark lashes. She looks ready to bolt, and Kara puts on her warmest smile.

“Hi.”

The woman swallows, blinking a few times. She’s adorably nervous, her hands now mindlessly flexing against the fabric of her skirt. “Hi.”

“Do you want to dance?”

The woman thankfully nods enthusiastically, and Kara pulls her into the crowd. This is good – Kara knows that she’s a good dancer. She can impress on the dance floor. Better to be here than at the table, where the chance of her slipping back into her nervous bumbling self is greater. This woman is distractingly beautiful, and Kara can only maintain her confidence for so long.

Kara starts to move to the beat, and she finds herself becoming even more enamored as her partner looks around nervously before starting to shuffle awkwardly. She’s incredibly stiff, and it’s clear that she’s not used to dancing for an audience. Kara can’t help but laugh at the display, and the woman wraps her arms around herself self-consciously.

 _She has no need to feel that way_. Kara wants to show her, somehow – prove to her how unbelievably sexy she is. Before long she has the woman pulled flush to her chest, and she needs to exercise most of her willpower not to run her hands all over every curve. Refreshingly, the woman seems to find her own confidence after Kara’s forwardness – she puts her hands over Kara’s and guides them to slide over her body, down and _down_ until Kara’s fingers brush the bare skin of her thighs, and then back up to her hips.

The sheer sensuality of it, of the softness under her hands and the press of the supple body against hers to the slow grind of the beat, has Kara almost panting into her neck. To Kara’s surprise, she seems to welcome the contact. Tentatively Kara drags her lips over the sweaty skin, aching to taste it, and she has to stifle an embarrassing moan when the woman slides a hand into Kara’s hair and pulls her closer.

Finally Kara indulges her instincts and sinks her teeth gently into the offered skin, tasting salt and the chemical sting of perfume. It’s harsh and perfect and she chases it up her neck, swirling her tongue and whimpering as the muscle shifts under her mouth.

Kara’s hands roam over every inch of the body moulded to hers, constantly moving in an attempt to memorize the feeling and file it away forever. She’s still working on leaving a mark just under her jaw when the woman spins around, seizes her shirt, and presses their lips together.

For a few seconds Kara short-circuits, surprised by the forwardness of the move. There’s a moment of awkwardness, but then Kara shifts ever so slightly and it’s like the spark that starts a wildfire. All she can process is the deep, searing need that fires up inside her at the taste of the woman’s scotch-flavoured kisses, the hot slide of her tongue and the sting of perfect teeth digging into her lower lip. Their hips continue to grind slowly, and when a thigh slips between hers and makes contact with the seam of her jeans she gasps at the intense jolt of pleasure.

Pulling away with great effort, Kara takes in the woman in front of her – dress riding up her thighs slightly, neck flushed and sporting a fresh hickey, pupils blown and hazy. Before she can second-guess herself, she’s pulling her by the hand towards the only semi-private space nearby.

_This is such a bad idea._

But she can’t seem to stop herself – the woman is following willingly, breathing hard as the click of her heels echoes through the blissfully empty washroom. Even so, Kara pauses for a moment, needing an indication that this strange impulse isn’t one-sided. When the woman enters a stall herself, leaning against the wall and beckoning her brazenly with a finger, the last of her control finally snaps.

She’s never held anything so perfect in her hands before. This woman is like a muse, some creature of raw sensuality, and Kara yearns to make her fall apart. She loses herself in her, in the taste of her skin and the sound of her moans and finally the silky heat between her spread thighs - she’s three fingers deep to the knuckle and it still isn’t close enough.

She can’t bring herself to stop even when a group of people barges in - the woman just clenches harder around her fingers when Kara keeps them moving, even as several people chat mere feet from them. There’s something heady about hearing barely-muffled moans around her hand and knowing that people on the other side of the flimsy metal door have no idea that the most beautiful woman in the building – if not the city, if not the _world_ – is behind it and about to come.

And she is about to come – sometime in the interim she’s undone Kara’s shirt and slid her hands underneath to dig short nails into her bare shoulders, and her noises are increasing in pitch and intensity by the second. Kara almost shouts when the woman shoves a hand into her jeans and long fingers slide over her clit, grinding her hips forward and increasing her pace. The woman tightens around her hand and arches into her with a helpless whimper at the frenetic speed, and at the evidence of her pleasure Kara lets her own crest in a powerful wave only seconds later.

She loses herself in kisses in the aftermath, letting herself luxuriate in the rhythmic pulses around her fingers and sinking into soft lips unhurriedly despite the giggles that echo off the walls from their unintended voyeurs. The taste of scotch has disappeared, leaving just the flavour of the woman’s mouth, and Kara craves more even as she pulls back to straighten her clothes and open the door.

She wishes she hadn’t – she wishes she had stayed in that stall forever, stayed buried inside this girl until the bar closed and sent them home together. If she had, she might have avoided Sam bursting in just when she was about to ask for a round two at her apartment, pulling her down the hall before she can even ask for a phone number.

“Sam! What the hell –“

Sam doesn’t hear her over the music, continuing to pull her by the arm towards the back door. As they spill into an alleyway Kara hears retching, followed by an annoyed-sounding grunt.

“Alex, what did you _do_ …” Kara groans, stepping around the puddle of regurgitated tequila to rub her sister’s back consolingly. Alex leans her head onto Kara’s shoulder, and Kara reels back slightly from the strong smell of liquor that accompanies.

“Contest.” Alex mumbles, coughing slightly, and Kara gingerly leans her against the wall before she vomits on her nicest shirt.

“She lost.” Sam supplies needlessly, taking Kara’s place and rubbing Alex’s back. “She’s been asking for you.”

“Kar’sgotta take me home.”

Kara sighs, looking longingly back at the door. “Actually, I sort of have someone waiting. We were – well, I should go back and at least tell her I didn’t abandon her after Sam dragged me off.”

“Someone waiting?” Sam grins, standing up again. “Kara, did you… _hook up?!_ With who?”

“Uh, the girl I was standing with at the sink?” Kara’s cheeks flare red, and she edges ever so slightly towards the door.

Sam laughs and follows, slinging an arm around her shoulder as Alex heaves unappealingly in the background. “Wow, really? No offense, but I would have thought her tastes ran a little more expensive than a bathroom hookup.”

Kara bristles indignantly. “What makes you say that?”

Sam snorts, looking amused. “The Louboutins and Armani didn’t give it away?”

“The…what?” Kara frowns, shaking her head. “I don’t know what that means.”

“Oh, Kara. You precious, clueless butch. Her _shoes_. She was wearing $1500 shoes. And I don’t even want to _think_ about how much her dress cost.”

 _Her dress?_ Kara hadn’t been paying attention to her dress – just to the soft skin underneath it, and getting to it as fast as possible. She remembers the wet trail that the woman’s fingers left on the hem as she pulled it down, and blushes.

“Look, Alex is fine – just get some water into her and get her into bed, okay? I have to go back inside.”

“Oh, Kara, come on! I was just kidding about the clueless butch thing! You’re a very _cute_ butch!” Sam calls after her as Alex groans and leans her head against the brick. “Taking care of her is a sisterly duty!”

“Not tonight, it isn’t!” Kara calls back, ducking back inside as someone opens the door to have a smoke in the alley. She’ll apologize to Alex tomorrow – this might be her only chance to start something with this girl, and she doesn’t want to let it slip away.

When she pops her head back into the bathroom, it’s empty, and there’s a sinking feeling in her gut. She goes back to the main area and looks at every table, at the bar, at the edges of the room, and even on the dance floor – the woman has disappeared, and Kara doesn’t even know her first name.

“Shoot.”

* * *

The next months pass in a blur. Being a reporter is harder than she thought, but it’s equally rewarding, and at the end of each day she’s the best kind of exhausted. She has no time for dating – as hard as Alex tried to get her to download Tinder, she refused on principle – but she finds her thoughts drifting to the girl from the bar with increasing frequency.  Especially in her more… _private_ moments. Their encounter had been one of the best of her life despite its shortness, and she still reels at the thought of how incredible it could have been if they’d had the oppourtunity for more.

But life goes on, and Kara throws herself into learning the ropes of reporting and hunting for a nicer apartment to match. Finally she finds one, in a converted industrial building downtown, and by the time she moves in she’s practically vibrating with excitement.

“I love this place.”

Kara takes a deep breath of clean-smelling air, beaming as she takes in the view outside her gigantic new windows.

This apartment is fantastic – it’s miles above where Kara is moving from, a dingy little bachelor pad on the far side of town. She can finally afford to live in a place that has _windows_. It’s close enough that she can walk to work, and the hallways have clean carpets, and there’s _real natural sunlight_ streaming in and warming the hardwood floors. It’s cozy and comfortable and perfect.

Behind her she hears the telltale sound of Alex flopping down onto soft cushions, and she crosses her arms.

“Alex! The table is still downstairs and I _know_ you’re not about to make me drag that thing up by myself, right?”

Alex groans, rolling over so that her back is to Kara. “You’re strong, Kara, I’m sure you could manage.”

“Okay, get your lazy butt off my couch and come help me.”

She pulls Alex up by her arms and frog-marches her into the hallway, stopping when she sees a woman standing next to the mountain of boxes. She opens her mouth, meaning to apologize for the mess, but all that comes out is a faint wheeze when their eyes meet.

_It’s her._

She looks different – the direct light illuminates her face, and her eyes are even more piercing than they were at the club. She’s in tailored black pants and a silk blouse rather than the dress that Kara remembers; her hair is down this time, and she’s frowning slightly instead of whimpering in ecstasy, but Kara hasn’t been able to forget that face in almost 6 months. It’s the girl from the bar – the one she fucked in a bathroom stall and then disappeared on. The one she lost and can’t stop thinking about.

She’s even more beautiful than Kara remembers.

Her chest feels tight, her words coming out jumbled and shaky. Alex saves the day by introducing herself, but Kara can’t do much more than stutter her own name as the woman – _Lena, her name is **Lena,** I finally know her name_ – takes her hand and shakes it firmly.

The elation of the moment fades as Kara realizes that there’s no recognition in her face. She looks at Kara like a complete stranger – which, to be fair, she is – but it’s clear that she has no idea who Kara is. Suddenly she knows that if she stays here, watching Lena regard her not with the nervous passion of their night together but instead with this cool detachment, she’s going to start crying.

_6 months later I finally find her, and she doesn’t remember me._

The next thing she knows she’s standing in front of the elevator, taking steadying breaths as she hears Lena bid goodbye to Alex and enter her own apartment.

“Kara, what the hell was that? I know she’s pretty, but you lost your shit _entirely_ back there.”

“Can we just forget it, Alex? Please?” Kara sighs, trying not to openly cry, and Alex looks taken aback.

“Okay. Yeah, I’m sorry. Let’s go get your table.”

After Alex finally leaves, Kara puts on her ‘sad’ playlist and jams her headphones in as she unpacks her things, and trying and failing to focus on the task instead of the person she knows is somewhere on the other side of her bedroom wall. She sings quietly along, going over their short conversation in her head.

_She doesn’t remember me, and I still can’t stop thinking about her. How am I supposed to just be her neighbour?_

Kara manages to get through the next day at work with minimal daydreaming about Lena. In fact she works later than usual, scrambling to finish a last-minute story, and when she finally gets home she’s still half in reporter-mode, shuffling pages of research and drafts as she jogs for the lift.

“Hold the elevator!”

She hears a hand slam against the button, and sighs in relief as she steps through the open doors. The remainder of her breath leaves her when she sees who she’s sharing it with.

Lena.

She has her hair up in a bun, and the tight style brings with it a flashback of that night 6 months ago. She’s looking sleek and severe in her grey dress and tight red coat, and she can smell Lena’s perfume in the small space, the same one she tasted on her neck as she came against her fingers. A few papers slip from her hands and flutter to the floor when Lena spares her a brief glance and a nod. Kara scrambles to pick them up, heart pounding.

She leans against the wall in what she hopes is a casual way, stealing glances at Lena every few seconds. The smell of her perfume is light and almost untraceable but it feels suffocating to Kara, she wants to pin Lena to the elevator wall and follow it to Lena’s throat and bite down until Lena is gasping and arching just like –

_Stop it!_

_Just say something, say **anything** -_

“Um. I’m really sorry, for how rude I was the other day. Just walking off like that. It was a…stressful day.”

Lena smiles at her, and the knot in her chest eases slightly.

The difference between this Lena and the woman from the club is startling. Then, Lena had been nervous and cute – she had blushed when Kara complimented her, stuttered her words and danced awkwardly and laughed at Kara’s stupid antics. This Lena is stiff, and her smiles don’t quite reach her eyes. There’s something sad about her – like she’s holding something inside, some silent struggle that she’s fighting through alone.

Kara wishes, for what feels like the thousandth time, that she had asked for her number before she left the club that night. Maybe things would be different. Lena is clearly uncomfortable with strangers, but they had been so close to _not_ being strangers anymore until Sam dragged her off to sober Alex up.

Kara somehow makes it through a short conversation without embarrassing herself, and by the time Lena unlocks her door Kara can almost see a real smile on her face.

_Progress!_

She is not under any circumstances going to let Lena find out that she was the girl from the bar, now – the window of opportunity for it to not be weird is gone. She’ll have to be content pining from afar. She can do that – she’s practically perfected it by now. No matter how much her dirty thoughts about Lena have kicked into overdrive since she first saw her in the hallway, no matter how her heart seizes every time they lock eyes, she needs to lock it down.

She arranges her room so that her bed is against the wall that she shares with Lena’s apartment, and as she lies awake she presses a hand gently to the surface. She wonders if Lena’s bedroom is on the other side, if somehow she’s sleeping only a few feet away. It makes her chest ache.

_God, I am so screwed._

* * *

“Ponytail!”

Kara takes a deep breath, willing her anger away. She loves her new job – it’s infinitely more satisfying than being an assistant, and she feels like she’s actually making a difference here – but Snapper’s difficult attitude is beginning to get on her last nerve. She never thought that there could be a boss more demanding than Cat Grant, but somehow with Cat it was tempered by Kara’s deep respect for her.

Snapper begets no respect whatsoever.

Kara follows him into his office area, and he snaps his fingers and throws a magazine her way. “Luthor Corp. One of the biggest corporations in town, and CatCo barely got a scoop when the CEO and his mother got taken down for insider trading a couple months ago. I want the hot take about their restructuring.”

“Restructuring?”

Snapper rolls his eyes. “Keep up, blondie. Lex Luthor’s little sister took over, scooped the company from the mother. 26 years old and she’s rebranding, refocusing their technology. She’s doing a press conference in a few days, but I want an interview first. Get one.”

Abandoning her barely-started (and admittedly boring) article on National City’s water quality, Kara does a quick google search for Luthor Corp. She reads about Lex and Lillian Luthor’s arrests, the company’s previous corporate misdeeds and focus on high-end unaffordable technology, and then manages to spray coffee all over her screen as she sees a full-body shot of the new CEO.

Lena Luthor. The resemblance is unmistakeable – black hair pulled into a severe ponytail, piercing green eyes, and a look of extreme discomfort as she stands behind a podium at what appears to be the announcement of her appointment to CEO.

_Lena._

For a few seconds, her mind is entirely blank. Then, with the force of a tsunami, the situation crashes into her – the girl she fucked in a bathroom stall 6 months ago is Lena Luthor, polished and dignified Chief Executive Officer of a multi-billion dollar company, who for some unknown reason lives in Kara’s mid-range apartment building and doesn’t remember her at all.

_I need Alex. And a drink._

* * *

 

“What is it that’s so important that you called me away from work to meet _in a bar_ at 3pm on a Wednesday?” Alex asks, frowning as Kara uncharacteristically gulps down a martini.

“I have to interview Lena Luthor tomorrow.”

“Lena Luthor?” Alex asks, intrigued. “The new CEO of Luthor Corp?”

“You know her?”

“I know of her. You work at a media company, didn’t you hear when half her family got arrested a few months back? I hear she’s pretty young. And kind of a genius.”

“She’s 26.” Kara sighs, running her finger nervously around the rim of her glass. “I can’t interview her, Alex. I can’t even talk to her without looking like a moron.”

“What are you talking about? You’ve never even met her.” Alex looks incredulous, popping a few pretzels from the bar bowl into her mouth.

“That’s not exactly true.” Alex tilts her head, confused, and Kara braces herself. “So, do you remember how…weird I was being, the day I moved in?”

“When you stared at your neighbour like a creep and then bolted down the hall without saying goodbye? Yeah, I remember.”

Kara glares at her, her face flushing. “Thank you for the play-by-play reminder.”

“No problem. What does this have to do with Lena Luthor?”

“Well…Lena Luthor is my neighbour.”

There’s a pause, and Alex’s face goes on a dramatic journey from amusement to disbelief to pure shock.

“Oh my _god_.”

Kara sighs again, taking a sip of her second martini. “Yeah.”

“I knew she looked familiar! What the hell is she doing living in your building when she owns a billion-dollar company?”

“I have no idea. Look, that’s not even the issue – do you remember that night at the club, when I disappeared and you ended up barfing in the alley in front of Sam?”

Alex scowls at her halfheartedly, arms crossed. “Yes, I remember. The night you hooked up in the club bathroom and then abandoned me, you little minx.”

“Me leaving you with Sam that night is half the reason you’re dating now, so your tone should be much more grateful.” Kara grouses, and Alex chuckles, nodding in agreement.

“That’s fair.”

She isn’t sure why she’s so nervous about telling Alex. She tells Alex everything. But with this, it feels like saying it out loud will break some sort of spell, like the strange limbo she’s been living in will shift irrevocably the minute someone else knows.

_Here goes nothing._

“Okay, yes, well…that was Lena.”

There’s an even longer pause, and Kara’s leg starts up a nervous jiggle as she gulps down her newest drink in record time.

Alex lets out a little laugh. “…you’re joking, right?”

“No! Alex, I swear. I remember every second of that night, and it was _Lena_. I recognized her the second I saw her.”

Alex’s mouth opens and closes a few times, and when she finally speaks it’s at an unnatural volume that makes Kara jump.

“Lena Luthor? You fucked Lena _goddamn_ Luthor in a bathroom stall?”

Kara glances around nervously, waving her hands. “Yes, Alex, keep your voice down –“

Alex continues on, her voice getting louder by the second. “ _Lena Luthor_ , multibillionaire, National City’s second most powerful businesswoman. You had sex with her, _in a bathroom.”_

“Why is this so hard for you to believe?”

Alex gapes at her like a fish, and Kara pushes on.

“Look, the point is, she doesn’t remember me. There’s no recognition at all, she’s forgotten all about it. I _know_ it was her – she has a freckle on her throat, and a birthmark on –“ Kara blushes again, remembering the swirl of her tongue over that prominent freckle, how Lena had arched –

“Whatever, it’s not important. The point is, I’m going _nuts_ just living beside her and seeing her in the elevator sometimes, how am I going to _interview_ her?”

Alex blows a stream of air that ruffles Kara’s hair slightly, and shrugs. “I have no idea, honestly. Maybe she’ll remember you, eventually.”

“God, I hope not. Do you know how weird that would be?” Kara shudders at the thought of that awkward conversation.

“Well, either way, you’re going to be interviewing her if you want to keep your job, right?”

Kara sighs, fishing the olive from her glass and chewing on it dejectedly.

The Luthor Corp lobby is shiny, cavernous, and slightly overwhelming. As little time as she’s spent with Lena so far, she can’t help but think that the building doesn’t quite suit her – it’s too showy, too ostentatious. It’s the polar opposite of the building she lives in, and Kara smiles at the knowledge that she knows something more about Lena than most people here, even if it’s something as insignificant as knowing that she lives in a humble apartment.

She taps her foot nervously in the elevator as she heads to the top floor, crawling inexorably closer to the object of her stress. She isn’t even sure that Lena knows who it is that’s interviewing her – she only asked her assistant for an interview on behalf of CatCo.

It’s a long ride to the 40th floor, and by the time the doors slide open she’s practically vibrating. She freezes when she recognizes the woman sitting at the desk outside of Lena’s office – it’s Lena’s friend from the bar, the one that convinced Kara to go talk to Lena in the first place.

_I’m going to have to talk to her._

Kara straightens her ponytail and hopes that her practical work clothes and glasses are enough to disguise her.

“Hi, I’m here to see Miss Luthor? I’m from CatCo.”

The woman looks up from her computer and nods, making a note on her tablet. She picks up the phone and presses a few buttons. A plate on her desk reads _Jessica Huang, Executive Assistant,_ and Kara remembers her introducing herself as Jess. Jess doesn’t seem to recognize her, and Kara relaxes slightly.

“Your 3:00 is here. Should I send her in?” After a moment she nods and hangs up the receiver, gesturing towards the office door. “She’s ready for you.”

Kara breathes a sigh of relief, hurrying in that direction. She freezes when Jess’ voice rings out behind her.

“You look familiar. Have you been here before?”

Kara half-turns, trying to hide her blush. “Um. No, I’ve never been here. But, I’ve been told I have one of those faces.”

“Hmm.” Jess doesn’t look convinced, and Kara quickly excuses herself, opening the intimidating-looking metal door bearing the title _Lena Luthor, CEO._

Lena is sitting at her desk when Kara enters, and she takes a few seconds to just take her in. Her hair is down and un-straightened – Kara is starting to really appreciate it like that, how it curls gently near the ends and frames her face – and she’s wearing a black shirt and a grey patterned pencil skirt, accented with a thick belt at the curve of her waist. She stands when she hears the door, still looking down at the spread of papers at her desk, and Kara swallows hard when she sees how well the fit shows off the shape of her hips. She can remember having her hands there, fingers splayed over the curves, as Lena arched her neck and pulled her mouth down –

“Kara?”

Kara shakes herself out of her inappropriate daydream, pasting on an easy smile and approaching the desk where Lena is straightening up and holding her hand to shake, looking surprised but still collected.

“I didn’t realize _you_ were the reporter from CatCo. Although I didn’t know you were a reporter at all, in my defense.”

Kara, distracted by the feeling of Lena’s strong fingers holding hers, laughs awkwardly – it’s slightly too hard a laugh for Lena’s small attempt at levity, and she quickly clears her throat and sits in one of the chairs opposite Lena’s desk.

“Yeah, I mean, imagine my surprise when I do a bit of research for my assignment to find that my neighbour is the CEO of Luthor Corp!”

Lena smiles, ducking her head. The smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes – a professional smile, but a friendly one nonetheless. Kara thinks back to her cute laugh while she spun on the dance floor, and resolves to make Lena laugh at least once.

As Lena explains her plans for the company, how she intends to use it to solve global problems and help people, Kara finds herself drawn in by her orbit. Lena is practically glowing as she describes several proprietary technologies she’d developed while working in the lab, and how she plans to use them for good rather than corporate greed. Kara finds herself glad that she brought her tape recorder, because she stopped writing ages ago, too focused on absorbing Lena’s every word and taking full advantage of the opportunity to stare at her while she does so.

Lena is so passionate like this, and the professional façade falls away as she pulls up plans for prototypes that Kara can barely comprehend. She nods anyways, too enamored to risk admitting her confusion and having Lena stop talking.

“Oh my god – it’s almost 4:30.” Lena exclaims, looking down at her watch and blinking. “I’ve been talking your ear off for an hour and a half!”

Kara looks down at her own watch in surprise – 4:23. It still feels like she hasn’t been here long enough – she could have happily stayed and talked to Lena for hours more.

“I’m so sorry, Kara, I didn’t mean to steal all your time. Is there anything else you need to know for your article?”

Kara hesitates. Technically, she has everything she needs to write a glowing article about Lena and L-Corp. She’ll likely hammer it out tonight, with a glass of wine and the warmth of Lena’s presence still clinging to her. But she wants to spend more time with her, however possible.

“Well, I could use a few direct quotes? I, uh. Forgot my recorder, today.” Surreptitiously Kara tucks said recorder, still running, further into her purse.

“Of course. Unfortunately I don’t have much room tomorrow – could you do a lunch meeting?”

Kara nods enthusiastically. “Yes! Yeah, I can work with whatever your schedule is.”

Lena smiles as she reaches out her hand to shake again, and this time it actually reaches her eyes. They crinkle at the corners, and there’s a hint of adorable dimples that Kara wants to see more of. “I’ll have Jess call you with the details.”

In her hurry to get past Jess, who is still staring at her with pointed interest, she doesn’t see the soft smile on Lena’s face as she gets back to work.

At exactly 1pm the next day, Kara is seated across from Lena at an upscale vegan restaurant near the L-Corp building. Her recorder is lying visibly on the table this time, and Lena tucks her skirt underneath herself as the waitress sets their food on the table. Lena ordered some kind of complicated salad and Kara ordered falafel, the only thing on the menu that looked edible. Normally Kara wouldn’t set foot inside a place like this, but she finds herself warming to it as Lena smiles genuinely at the expression on her face upon reading the words ‘kale smoothie’.

“Smoothies are supposed to be _fruit_ , Lena! Kale doesn’t belong in a delicious smoothie.”

“Kale is good for you, and you can hardly taste it in a smoothie.”

“It’s the _principle_ of the thing!”

Lena chuckles lightly, pouring dressing over her salad and mixing it. “Well, questionable smoothie ingredients aside, I’m glad you could meet me here. I don’t often get to leave the building for lunch, and it’s nice when I can mix business and pleasure.” The tip of her high heel brushes Kara’s calf as she crosses her legs, and Kara’s knee knocks against the bottom of the table so hard that she has to grab at her water glass before it tips all over her plate.

_The pleasure is the food, dummy. **You’re** the business. Calm down._

Despite the fact that it’s ostensibly another interview, and Kara asks a few half-hearted business questions, most of the lunch feels more casual. Like friends having a meal together, Kara assures herself. Just two friends, one of whom is unspeakably beautiful, having a meal and laughing and continuing to talk even when their food is finished and they were both supposed to be back at work 20 minutes ago.

When she notices the time, Lena sighs in genuine disappointment.

“Kara, I’m so sorry, but I have a meeting in ten minutes.”

“Oh, of course! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to steal you away for so long.” Kara reaches for her wallet, and Lena stops her with a warm hand on her wrist that makes Kara’s brain fizzle out momentarily.

“Don’t be silly, it’s my treat.” She takes a few crisp bills from her wallet, and Kara can see that she’s left at least $200 on the table to pay for an $80 cheque.

“Well, I hope you got everything you needed from me?”

_Not everything._

“I – yes, thank you. I’ll be able to write a great article.”

“Good.” Lena smiles warmly, putting on her coat. “I had a wonderful time. I hope this isn’t the last time we talk.”

“I hope not, either.”

* * *

They move into being casual acquaintances after their lunch together – Kara often stays a bit late at work so that she has more of a chance of running into Lena in the lobby of their apartment building, and a few times a week they end up taking the elevator together and chatting for the few minutes it takes to ride to their floor. Occasionally the conversations extend into long periods of them standing in front of Kara’s door, Lena pointedly not taking out her own keys.

When the article prints Lena sends her flowers, with a note attached written in elegant handwriting: _‘You have a natural gift with words. The article is amazing – thank you. LL’._

Kara keeps them on her desk, and keeps the note tucked into the book on her nightstand.

It’s weeks into their shaky acquaintanceship before Lena even enters her apartment, despite all of their conversations in the hallway. Kara is on her couch on an innocuous Friday evening, flicking through channels and starting in on a box of donuts she bought on the way home. She almost chokes on a pink-frosted pastry when the next channel displays Lena’s face, looking tired and sad, next to a blonde news anchor. She turns the volume up on time to catch the last few words of the newscast.

_“…Lillian Luthor’s defense attorneys tried to downplay Lena Luthor’s testimony, characterizing her statements as ‘the angry rant of an estranged daughter’.”_

Frowning, Kara turns off the tv when Lena’s picture disappears.

_She could use a friend right now._

She packs a few donuts into a paper baggie and knocks on Lena’s door, but there’s no noise on the other side. She’s still hovering, bag in hand and unsure of what to do, when the elevator dings at the end of the hall and Lena steps out, looking exhausted.

She’s rubbing her hand over the back of her neck under the tall collar of her blue blouse, and she looks confused when she sees Kara standing awkwardly in front of her door. The confusion soon shifts to pleasant surprise, and her hand slides down to clutch the strap of her bag.

“Kara! What are you doing here?”

“Well, I do live in the building.”

Lena chuckles, crossing her arms as she leans against the wall beside Kara. “You know what I mean. Snapper Carr hasn’t sent you to my door to shake me down for a quote, has he?”

“No! No, I’m here as a friend. I saw you on the news. I thought you could use some fried sugary goodness in your life – you do eat donuts, right?” Kara holds the baggie out in front of her like a peace offering.

Lena grins, taking the bag. “Well, I am human.” She fiddles with it for a moment, seeming unsure as to the social protocol of the moment. Kara makes a split second decision before she can overthink her actions.

“Do you, um. Want to come over to my place? It’s still sort of a mess, but I have a couch and a bottle of fancy wine that my sister’s rich girlfriend left behind?”

They make it through the whole bottle, as well as a few glasses into a much cheaper one that Kara bought herself. Lena is wearing Kara’s ‘National City University’ sweater and looking so soft and vulnerable that Kara wants to wrap her up in a duvet and protect her from the harsh outside world.

“It actually felt good to testify, you know? I’d been ignoring everything she and Lex were doing so that I could stay in my safe bubble down in the lab, but I should have spoken up sooner.”

“Well, you were happy there. I can’t blame you for wanting to stay that way.”

“Well, unfortunately I can blame myself.” Lena takes another sip of wine, and pulls her knees up to rest her chin on them. “When I was adopted, I adored Lex. He made me feel like part of the family. But Lillian…I don’t think she ever wanted me. It was easier to watch her being taken to jail than Lex.”

“Have you visited him?”

Lena scoffs, her head turning so that her cheek squishes adorably against her knees. “No. I don’t even know what I’d say. ‘Thanks for forcing me to do what I’ve been avoiding since I was in boarding school’? ‘Your business practices were shady and I’m destroying them one by one’?”

Kara giggles, and takes another donut from the almost-empty box. “You seem to love him. Maybe visiting will make you feel better about all of this.”

“Maybe.” Lena’s eyes start to drift closed, and Kara drinks in her features while she can. She’s so _beautiful_ , especially like this – lipstick rubbed off, wearing comfy clothes, looking soft and tired and human.

“I should head home. Get to sleep and see if I can get ahead of my inevitable hangover.”

“Oh, right. Yeah, of course.” Kara takes her empty glass and stands, helping Lena to her feet. She pulls a little too hard, and Lena ends up almost flush to her – her cheeks are pink, and she doesn’t move away immediately. Her eyes drift down to Kara’s lips, and her breath catches.

_Is she – does she want to –_

And then she’s moving away, offering to return the sweater. Kara refuses – “We’re neighbors, Lena, I’ll get it back eventually” – and then she’s gone, leaving behind only lipstick prints on a wine glass and the hint of perfume on Kara’s couch cushions.

Half-drunk on red wine and Lena's scent, Kara strips off her pants and spreads her legs, and for the first time in months she's not thinking about that night at the club as she rubs herself frantically - she's thinking about Lena in her sweater, about pushing her down onto this couch and tasting the wine and sugar on her tongue, about kissing her way down her body until Lena is arching into her mouth. She finishes embarrassingly quickly, with a groan and her face buried in the cushions, feeling guilty but incredibly satisfied. 

She falls asleep curled up in Lena’s vacated spot, replaying that final moment in her head and wishing that she had decided to stay over.

* * *

“Ponytail!”

Kara no longer flinches at the nickname, after months of enduring it. Although it started as a demeaning title, after her first article about Lena was printed and contained such honest and juicy details, Snapper seemed to transition into using it with a more respectful tone.

“We’re doing a spread on women in business for Women’s History Month.”

Kara nods, taking out her notepad. “Do you need me to interview someone?”

“Lena Luthor. You two seemed to be gal pals last time.”

Kara chokes slightly, her pen flying off the side of the paper mid-sentence at the words.

“What?”

“Nothing! It’s just – the phrase, _gal pals,_ it implies –“ Snapper glares at her impatiently, and she trails off. “Uh, it’s nothing. I’ll call her office.”

She and Lena haven’t spent much time together since the night of Lillian’s trial – Kara has hardly been seeing her in the elevator anymore, and often hears her coming in at late hours during the week – and she can’t help her own excitement as she enters the L-Corp lobby.

She's so excited, apparently, that she arrives 15 minutes early for her appointment. Jess calls Lena to tell her that Kara has arrived, but clearly she has an engagement, because Jess gestures to two chairs opposite her desk.

"She's busy at the moment, but you can wait here until she's finished."

Kara nods and crosses her arms, biting her lip as she looks at the door with barely disguised longing. She adjusts her glasses, and jumps when Jess' soft voice interrupts her thoughts.

“Oh my god?”

She says it in almost a whisper, and Kara looks at her quickly, startled.

“What? Are you okay?”

Jess is gaping at her, looking her up and down a few times. There’s comprehension in her eyes, and excitement, and she feels tendrils of worry start to creep up.

“Oh my _god_. It’s you.”

Kara’s heart drops.

“It’s – who? I don’t –“ She stammers, stepping back a few paces and straightening her glasses.

“It’s you! From the bar! Lena’s sexy hookup!” Jess’ voice is getting louder by the second, and Kara is infinitely grateful that nobody else is in the room with them. The more excited Jess gets, the more panicked Kara feels.

“Shhh! Jess, please, don’t –“

“She didn’t tell me she found you! I’m going to _murder_ her –“

“Jess, no! She didn’t – she didn’t find me. She doesn’t know.”

Jess blinks a few times, her excited expression fading into confusion.

“…what?”

“She doesn’t remember me. She just thinks I’m her neighbour.”

“Her neighbour? _Her_ \- you live _next to her_ and she hasn’t –“

“She doesn’t remember me! Clearly it didn’t mean the same to her as it did to -” Kara cuts herself off, her frustration bleeding into her tone. She doesn’t want to be frustrated when she finally gets to talk to Lena again.

Jess’ face softens, and she looks more sympathetic. “Look, she remembers that night. She actually told me about how she wished she had gotten your number, which is _big_ for Lena, trust me.”

Kara’s heart rises a bit. “She did?”

“Yes! She’s just been going through a lot the last few months. Taking over L-Corp is the last thing she ever wanted to do and it's all she thinks about. You should just tell her.”

“No!” Kara hisses, leaning closer. “Promise me, Jess. Promise you won’t tell her.”

_“Why?”_

“Because if I tell her, it’ll make things weird. What if she doesn’t want anything to do with her random bathroom hookup? Especially since I’ve been keeping it from her for so long. She already told me she has trouble making friends to begin with.”

Jess sighs, looking conflicted.

“Please, Jess.”

With a frustrated groan, Jess nods. “Okay, but I _hate_ keeping secrets. It makes me sweat. You should just talk to her.”

“Thank you. Really.”

Finally Lena’s office door swings, and a disgruntled man in a suit storms out. The door stays open, and Lena’s voice carries into the hallway.

“Kara, you can come on in!”

Lena looks up from her computer as Kara enters, a real, beaming smile on her face, and Kara decides. She’d rather have Lena this way, greeting her warmly and saying her name with real fondness, than not have her at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time, Lena Has The Realization, with smutty results.
> 
> Hmu on tumblr @jazzfordshire


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S HERE. I know it took way longer than usual, but I had like 8k words written and then my goddamn USB corrupted and I lost EVERYTHING, so it took me an extra 2 weeks or so to re-write. But here it is, in all it's glory. Hope you enjoy the climax (pun intended)!

Lena is so very, very screwed.

She knows this. Realistically, she’s known it since that first lunch with Kara, when for the second time in her adult life she actually lost track of time while talking to an almost-stranger. Considering the first time had _also_ been Kara just the day before, and Lena can feel the unfamiliar ache in her cheeks from smiling so much when she sits down for her afternoon meeting, she’d have to be completely unaware of herself to not know that she’s on a slippery slope.

But _knowing_ and actually _stopping_ herself are two different things, and Lena is running out of willpower.

Try as she might, she can’t seem to avoid Kara, or even stop herself from actively seeking her out. It gets to the point where she intentionally loiters in her apartment until she hears Kara open her door in the morning, just so she can have 60 seconds with her in the elevator before she slides into her waiting car and Kara walks to work at CatCo.

On nights where they get home around the same time, Lena finds herself standing in the hallway and talking with Kara outside her door for as long as she can get away with, even when her feet are screaming in her uncomfortable work heels and her body aches to sink into her couch with a glass of scotch. Somehow, the discomfort is worth it to see the blonde smile and fiddle with her glasses.

Lena tries, truly tries, to keep up a comfortable distance. For weeks she still hadn’t even seen the inside of Kara’s apartment, nor had Kara seen hers – their conversations were restricted to elevators and hallways and the neutral zone of Lena’s office. She hasn’t crushed on a straight girl since college, and she has no desire to re-live that miserable period of her life. But Kara makes it so _difficult_.

Kara Danvers burst into her life with the velocity of a comet and flared just as brightly, laying her carefully constructed walls to waste.

This becomes increasingly apparent as their conversations get longer and more personal, and it comes to a head the night of Lillian’s trial. The trial itself is a mess – her legal counsel had advised her that her demeanour was too ‘cold fish’ for the jury, and that she needed to come across as more personable, but she failed miserably. Her mother’s lawyers spent the day poking holes in her testimony, while Lillian herself watched coolly.

She came home exhausted, too tired to even be overly disappointed at not seeing Kara in the elevator like usual. By the time the doors slide open on her floor she’s considering stepping out of her shoes for the walk down the hall, and she’s halfway through her takeout order in her head and just deciding on which alcohol to drown herself in for the night when she sees Kara. She’s hovering nervously outside Lena’s door wearing sweats and a soft white t-shirt, rocking back and forth on her heels and holding a white paper bag.

She looks far cuter than she has any right to, and in an instant Lena’s terrible day starts to melt away.

Like some kind of Danvers-specific magic trick, one minute she wants nothing more than to crawl into bed and never leave again, and the next she’s on Kara’s couch, a glass of admittedly nice red wine in hand and Kara sitting so close that their legs almost touch. She’s never been this close to Kara before – there’s always been some sort of space between them, a table or a desk or a sense of propriety in a public hallway. For the first time they’re truly in private, in Kara’s space, and Lena is having trouble curbing the urge to reach out and run her fingers over the soft hairs on Kara’s arm.

She shivers at the thought, and Kara looks concerned.

“You look cold. Do you want to borrow a sweater?”

Lena’s cheeks darken slightly at being caught out, and she opens her mouth to refuse, but changes her mind halfway through.

“No, it’s all right, I’m – you know, actually, yes. I’d love one.”

Kara launches herself over the back of the couch athletically and starts rooting through an open rack of hanging clothes, and Lena takes the oppourtunity to take in Kara’s apartment. It’s only half decorated, but somehow it still fits her. She has shelves of knickknacks and photo frames, and mismatched but well-chosen furniture. Fairy lights line the window frames and drape over the wall behind her bed, giving the space an effusive glow. The décor is simple, eclectic, and comfortable, and Lena sinks further into the soft couch as Kara sits down beside her again, holding out a soft grey crewneck sweatshirt of the kind that Lena was never really allowed to wear in public growing up, and thus doesn’t own now.

She slips it on, and suddenly starts to reconsider her stance. It’s fleecy and soft on the inside – it feels like a warm hug, and it smells like clean detergent and Kara’s apartment and, strangely, coconut.

The smell reminds her of something; something in the back of her head that’s been trying to get her attention for some time flares up and starts waving a red flag, but then Kara is smiling and nudging Lena’s leg with her socked foot and Lena’s base instincts cleanly pull the shutters on her higher brain functions.

“It’s clean, I promise.” Kara grins, snagging a donut and taking a bite.

“I trust you.” Lena replies, unable to stop her smile as Kara pinkens and chews happily.

_She’s smiling because she likes donuts, not because of you. Get a hold of yourself._

Lena takes her own donut mostly out of politeness. She hasn’t eaten junk like this in years - not since her junior year at MIT, when Lillian’s Christmas gift to her was a nutritionist and a gym membership. At the memory, she rips off a piece of the pastry and pops it into her mouth out of pure spite.

“So, is this your solution for a bad day? Donuts and stolen wine?” Lena says, taking a healthy sip from her glass to wash down the sugary taste.  

Kara laughs, pointing at Lena with her half-eaten dessert in hand. “Donuts cure _all_. And, the wine is not stolen! She left it here, which means it’s free game.”

“Ah, of course. The eternal rule.” Lena jokes, and Kara tops up her glass with a smile. “So the wine belongs to your sister’s…partner?”

Halfway through a sip of her drink, Kara snorts. Wine sprays all over her hand, and in her coughing fit she ends up sloshing the liquid all over the front of her shirt. “Shoot!”

“Kara! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” Kara gasps, collecting herself with a few coughs and laughing at the mess. Seemingly without thought she darts her tongue out to catch the drops of expensive wine as they run down her wrist, and Lena’s grip tightens on her own glass. She’s surprised that it doesn’t shatter in her hand when Kara stands up, the wet, red-stained fabric of her shirt clinging to her toned stomach.

“Hold on, just let me change.” Kara wanders off, disappearing behind the half-closed white curtains that separate the bedroom from the rest of the apartment. Lena can see her outline through the gossamer fabric, her arms stretching above her head as she peels the shirt off, the wet slap of it hitting the side of a laundry basket, she can see the movement and a flash of her arm around the edge as Kara towels herself off -

She tears her eyes away and clears her throat, hoping her voice sounds calm and even. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to assume –“

The towel hits the basket as well. Lena finishes her wine in a single gulp, and immediately refills her glass.

Kara re-emerges in another soft shirt, black this time, and Lena finally relaxes. She flops back onto the couch, grinning as the movement slightly dislodges Lena from her stiff position. “No, you assumed right! I just had a mental image of my sister’s face if I ever called Sam her ‘partner’.”

“Does she not like the word?”

Kara crams the last of her pink-frosted donut into her mouth, and takes another from the box – somehow, the fact that Kara is talking with her mouth slightly full is endearing rather than irritating.

“I think she’d think it’s a bit serious. Plus, she’d complain about how the term ‘girlfriend’ has been co-opted by straight women.”

“Mmm. That’s a pet peeve of mine as well, to be honest.” She says it as casually as she would with Jess – the warm buzz of the wine is starting to sink in and make everything soft, and Kara’s presence is just accelerating the process – and it’s a few seconds before she realizes that she’s essentially just come out. If Kara is at all interested in women, she has to pick up such a blatant hint. Part of her screams for Kara to acknowledge it, somehow – to comment, or agree, or even argue. Something, _anything_ to either confirm or deny whether Lena has a snowball’s chance in hell.

But Kara just chuckles and takes an absent bite of her donut, and Lena takes a sip of her wine, and the moment passes. Lena bites back her disappointment.

_I wouldn’t have had a chance anyways. She invited me over, and we’re having a nice time. That’s enough._

In truth, it’s ridiculously easy to spill her soul to Kara. Normally, Lena is painfully reserved – even Jess, her best friend, often has to practically beat her real feelings out of her. But after 2 hours with Kara, she’s had three donuts and five glasses of wine and is talking earnestly about her life – everything from her adoption (Kara was adopted too, she learns, although with much better results than Lena’s cold upbringing) to her real feelings about being forced to run L-Corp, her creeping sense of inadequacy and inertia in the face of over 15 years of her mother’s influence on the company.

She almost bolts, at one point – truths are slipping out of her at an alarming rate, and she’s starting to feel uncomfortably exposed, the nearby door to her own apartment looking more and more tempting – but then Kara is looking at her with such softness and telling her _you are so brave, Lena_ and for the first time in months, things feel okay again.

She leaves only when it starts to get difficult to keep her eyes open. She skirts temptation even when Kara pulls her up from the couch so fast that their chests are almost flush; Kara’s eyes are so bright, her lips stained purple from the cheaper wine they broke out after the Cabernet ran out, and then her tongue darts out –

But no. Tonight has been too good to ruin with a humiliating rejection, however sweet Kara might be about it. She manages to stumble her way out and into her own bed, and she crawls beneath the covers still wearing her work clothes and Kara’s sweatshirt. She falls asleep with her nose buried in the neckline, one hand pressed to the wall above her head.

 

* * *

 

It’s almost a relief that she doesn’t see Kara for a few days afterwards. She needs time to clear her head and get her feelings under control – she goes to work intentionally early and stays unnecessarily late, and the only interaction she has with Kara is hearing her voice occasionally floating through the bedroom wall singing ABBA or Britney Spears. She feels a slight ache every time she hurries past Kara’s door, but she shoves it down deep. Very, very deep.

But not deep enough, apparently. On Thursday Kara calls for another interview, and Lena discovers something new about herself - she’s physically incapable of saying no to Kara Danvers. The moment that she walks into Lena’s office and flashes her that brilliant smile, it’s like the last week of distance never happened. Her heart starts throwing itself around in her chest cavity, and her traitorous stomach erupts into butterflies the moment their hands touch.

She goes home that night resigned to her fate, and she’s so deep in thought when she leaves the office that she doesn’t notice Jess’ devious smile.

On Saturday Kara knocks on her door unexpectedly, and drags her from the safety of her apartment and out to brunch – _brunch_ , simultaneously the gayest and most couple-ey meal in existence – and over eggs benedict and artfully sliced fruit she makes Lena laugh more than she usually would in a week.

It ends with an honest-to-god hug in front of Lena’s door - wherein Kara holds her so firmly and for so long that Lena has to seriously resist the urge to bury her face in her neck and start crying - and a promise to do lunch later in the week. That lunch turns into weekly lunches, and soon enough Lena can’t remember what her Wednesday afternoons looked like before Kara barged into her life.

So, when Kara texts her one such afternoon to say that Snapper is on her case and she can’t make it, Lena has their takeout orders packed up and is in her car halfway to CatCo before she can really think about it.

She strides confidently from the elevator and into the bullpen, and for a moment she’s slightly overwhelmed by the chaos of bustling people and ringing phones in the crowded space. She feels slightly lost and definitely overdressed, and she’s starting to re-think her impulse decision when she sees a familiar profile.

Kara is wearing beige chinos and a cute striped shirt, leaning forward over a small desk and scribbling on a notepad – as Lena watches, she takes a sip of one of the three coffee cups littering her desk and winces at the taste, glaring at the probably-cold drink like it’s offended her personally.

Lena can’t help the amused chuckle that escapes her, and at the noise Kara glances up with furrowed brows, looking about ready to scold whoever is interrupting her notetaking until she sees that it’s Lena. Her expression clears into a surprised smile.

“Lena! What are you doing here? Surprise visit to CatCo?”

“I came to see you, actually. Since you said you couldn’t make it, I thought I’d bring lunch to you?” Lena holds up her bag of food, and Kara looks at her in seeming disbelief. “I figured Snapper couldn’t say no if it was technically a business lunch, because Lena Luthor has the inside scoop on a new L-Corp project and she’ll only entrust it to the best reporter in all of National City?”

Kara blushes, fiddling with her glasses. “Oh, stop it!” But she’s smiling as she says it, and she takes the takeout bag from Lena without protest.

Snapper grumbles at first, but in the end Lena is right – when faced with the combined powers of Kara’s hopeful face and, just behind her, the delicately arched brow of Lena Luthor herself, even Snapper can’t say no.

They eat on the patio, the conversation flowing as easily as it always does, and it feels like no time at all before their food is finished and Lena’s afternoon meeting is on the horizon. She really should be leaving, but then Kara reaches across the table and squeezes her hand as she laughs at a joke Lena doesn’t quite remember making, and she texts Jess under the table to move the meeting up by an hour.

“I can’t believe you came all the way over here.” Kara says, leaning back in her chair again. “You really didn’t have to. But I’m glad you did! Considering we live next to each other, I still feel like I don’t see you enough.”

The innocent statement makes a storm of butterflies erupt in Lena’s chest, and she takes a sip of water to calm herself before she blurts out something stupid, like ‘your eyes look beautiful in the sunlight and I want to spend eternity in your arms’.

_Neutral. Give a neutral response. It’s a compliment, not a marriage proposal._

In the end, she settles on something decided less neutral than she hoped. “I feel the same way. I figured you were worth the extra effort.”

Kara beams, and Lena’s heart grows three sizes, and distantly, she can hear the final nail being hammered into her coffin.

Clearing her throat, Lena tucks her loose hair behind her ear as she reaches into her bag, pulling out a black folder bearing the L-Corp logo. “Here, before I forget. L-Corp’s newest project, as promised. The press release hasn’t even come out yet, so you’re going to be breaking the story.”

Kara blinks owlishly at her, gingerly taking the folder and looking over the first few pages. “Lena…this is…this is _huge_! This is an exclusive – it’ll actually put me on the board!” Lena’s chest feels tight with pride at Kara’s obvious delight over her gift.

“What are friends for, right?” Lena’s smile never falters. Inwardly, she smacks herself.

_Friends. Way to hammer **that** fact home, Luthor. _

Kara leaps up from her seat to pull Lena into a fierce hug, and Lena leaves with a promise to have a home-cooked dinner at Kara’s apartment on Sunday.

So now Kara Danvers is her friend, and Lena is in love with her, and everything is _garbage_.

 

* * *

 

“This place is _gigantic_. You used to work down here?”

Kara trails behind Lena, spinning in slow circles as she gazes around the sprawling L-Corp lab. She’s adorably wide-eyed, taking in the cavernous ceilings and shiny chrome tables and glass writing boards full of complicated plans. A few technicians and engineers mill about, some waving a friendly welcome to Lena and others absorbed in their projects.

“I did, yes. This is where all of our projects are conceived, prototyped, and tested.” Lena opens a nearby door, which leads to a closet full of lab equipment. Along the left wall are a row of white lab coats and a rack of gloves and protective eyewear for testing – grinning mischievously, Lena grabs two coats and a set of goggles.

“So, you understand that?” Kara says as Lena emerges again, pointing to a nearby board covered in numbers and equations. Lena moves to stand beside her, examining it – it’s actually just simple physics and a bit of programming, despite its length.

“More or less. It looks like someone was trying to re-work their math for a new type of prosthetic that we’re beta testing.”

Kara gapes at her, visibly impressed, and Lena tries her best not to preen under the attention. Suddenly overly aware of Kara’s proximity, Lena thrusts the coat and goggles into Kara’s hands. “Put these on. Safety regulations, you know.”

Kara follows her instructions without question. The coat Lena selected for her is slightly too big, and she rolls the sleeves up and snaps the goggles onto her face.

“How do I look?”

She looks, quite frankly, adorable. The coat hangs down to her knees and she’s put the clear plastic goggles over her own glasses, the double frames making her face look like a strangely patterned bird. The overall effect makes Lena slightly regret her impulse, because now her chest hurts again.

“Very scientific.” Lena says instead, finishing the last few buttons on her own coat (fitted and monogrammed – she has a few vanities, after all).

“Don’t you have to wear goggles, too?”

“No, I don’t.”

“What?” Kara asks, indignant. “Why not?”

“Because I’m the boss.” Lena winks, and abruptly turns on her heel before she can do anything stupid like apologize for flirting. Best to avoid the problem until it goes away. In her haste to walk away, she misses Kara’s cheeks turning pink.

She leads Kara across the open space and towards the corridor that leads to the testing rooms, her heels clicking decisively on the hard floor in contrast to the scuff of Kara’s sensible Blundstones. Before they can leave, a smooth voice calls out.

“Lena, hey! We’ve missed you down here. Who’s your friend?”

She picks out Jack’s jovial smile at a table just to the right of the hallway, and grins back. He’s one of the people she got along with best down here, always content to work quietly next to her and only speak up when Lena indicated that she’d like a break or needed a second opinion. She had usually planted herself close to him, as he was a good buffer against the (to her mind) incessant small talk that came with working in an open lab.

She’s sure that Kara will like him. She leads her over, and Jack stands up to bump her fist, a compromise he suggested when she told him she wasn’t a fan of hugs. “This is Jack, a former colleague of mine.”

“’Former colleague’? Is that all I get? I thought I was special?” Jack jokes, elbowing Lena gently as she chuckles.

“Jack is a friend. We even dated, briefly. Before I realized that I was probably more interested in his sister. He was quite the gentleman when I cried on him and told him I was a lesbian.” Lena smiles at him affectionately, ruffling his hair. Jack pokes her in the side in retaliation.

“Hey, I thought we agreed you’d stay away from my sister?”

“ _You_ agreed. I made no such promise.”

Kara looks back and forth between them, looking slightly pained for a second, and then grabs Jack’s outstretched hand.

“Nice to meet y – oh, wow, that’s a, uh…firm handshake you have.” Jack pulls his hand back, flexing it slightly and looking bemused.

“Yeah. You too. Lena?” Kara inclines her head towards the hallway and wanders off to stare through a window into one of the testing rooms, where three technicians are working on a hoverboard. Lena frowns – she’s never seen Kara be so brusque before. Thankfully, the seriousness fades when Kara sees the experiment.

“This is so cool! It’s like Back to the Future!” Kara presses her nose against the glass, watching and laughing as a tech climbs carefully onto the board, presses a button, and promptly goes flying into a wall.

Jack sits back down, rotating back and forth on his swivel chair and giving Lena a look that makes her shift uncomfortably. “So. Kara, huh? I thought that non-personnel weren’t supposed to see –“

Lena silences him with an arched brow, and an all-too-knowing look spreads over his face. He raises his hands in surrender.

“Right. I’ll just, uh…let you two have some privacy?” He starts to gather his papers and laptop to move his station to another section of the lab, grinning.

Kara comes back towards them, with a suspicious frown and her hands on her hips. “Lena, nobody else is wearing goggles. Not even the people in the testing room.”

“Well, you’re a guest. Guests have to wear them.” Lena counters, desperately trying not to crack and start giggling at Kara’s narrowed eyes. Behind her Jack snorts, and Lena whirls on him with a severe look.

“I knew it! I’m taking these off, you bully.” Kara rips the goggles off and sticks her tongue out playfully, but her smile tempers her words. The plastic has left red outlines around her eyes, and Lena’s long-stifled laugh finally breaks free.

Lena catches her breath as Kara throws the goggles down on Jack’s table. “Well, sometimes my Luthor genes just shine through.”

Finally they walk together down the corridor, stopping at each window and observing the experiments inside. Each one gets Kara more and more excited, until finally they’re heading back towards the lab proper. Kara starts to fidget, and Lena is just starting to wonder what could have her so nervous when she speaks up.

“I wanted to ask you something.”

“Of course.” Lena replies, immediately concerned. “What is it?”

“Well, once a month my friends and I have a game night. We all hang out, get tipsy, play board games, stuff like that. It’s at my apartment this time, and I was wondering if you’d maybe, like to come?” Kara gnaws on her lower lip nervously, and Lena’s eyes are drawn there for a moment before snapping back up.

_A party? She wants me to come to a party? With her friends?_

“I –“

She wants to say no. She _means_ to say no. Spending a full night in a room full of strangers sounds like a living nightmare. But Kara looks so hopeful, and Lena can’t bring herself to wipe that look off her face.

“I - sure. Yes. I’ll come.”

Kara’s excited reaction is worth it, until she leaves to go back to work and Lena is left alone in the elevator, regretting her decision more and more by the second. As she steps out of the lift and heads to her office, she vaguely registers that Jess is on the phone, and she doesn’t seem to be talking in her usual professional tones.

“…I know, I tried to tell her, but she wouldn’t listen. It’s just going to make it worse the longer she – I know, I know. Look, I know she told you not to come, but maybe we need to force their hands a bit. Just enough to -” The moment she hears Lena’s heels approaching, she slams the receiver down, straightening and putting on what Lena knows is her ‘customer service smile’.

 _Strange_. Preoccupied as she is with worrying about Friday night, she doesn’t stop to ask questions.

So that’s how Lena finds herself at Kara’s door, wearing what she hopes is a casual outfit, at exactly 7:28 on Friday.

She can hear muffled conversation on the other side, and a chorus of laughter, and it makes her stomach roll with anxiety. A whole new group of people, a  _large_ group at that, and she has to try to make a good impression on them. She silently curses her inability to say no to Kara – she knew it would get her into trouble someday, and here she is, holding a bottle of wine in her sweaty hands and preparing to walk into a room full of possible social pitfalls just because Kara batted her eyelashes.

Raising a slightly shaky hand, she knocks three times in quick succession.

Almost immediately, as if she had been waiting by the door, it swings open to reveal Kara with red cheeks and the bright grin that Lena always secretly hopes is reserved just for her.

“Lena! I’m so glad you’re here!” She exclaims, opening her arms in welcome. She’s paired one of her usual button-up shirts with jeans, and her socks are both colourful and mismatched – one has dancing bananas on it, and the other has tiny rainbows. Lena relaxes slightly at the sight of her, but tenses up again as Kara ushers her inside, pulling her into an unexpected hug.

“Almost everyone is here already – Alex hasn’t turned up yet, and Sam is, uh, not coming. I guess she’s sick?” Kara rambles, pulling a shell-shocked Lena by the hand into the communal area where several people are already sitting.

“Guys! This is Lena. Lena, this is James and Lucy –“ A tall man and a much smaller woman with a brunette bob wave from the loveseat, “And that’s Winn. He’s usually my partner on game nights, and we usually lose.” A wiry man with a kind face springs up from his seat, reaching to shake Lena’s hand.

“Hi! Winn Schott, and I have to say, I’m a huge fan, Miss Luthor. Er - Lena? Should I –?“

Lena, stunned, nods mostly on instinct. “I – yes, you can call me Lena.”

“Right! Lena. I’ve been following what you’ve been doing with L-Corp in the last few months, and the tech you’re coming up with is  _insane_. And then Kara told me you used to work in the lab, and I was wondering –“

“Winn!” Kara cuts in, looking apologetic. “Can you maybe let her sit down and get a drink before you accost her?”

“Oh! Right. Sorry.” Winn blushes and drops Lena’s hand, which she now realizes he had been shaking continuously throughout his entire tirade. Kara leads her by the elbow toward the kitchen, grabbing a glass and an already-open bottle of wine.

“I’m sorry about him, he’s a tech nerd and he’s been fangirling about you for months. When he found out you were my neighbor, he almost had an aneurism. I should have warned you.”

Accepting the glass, Lena nods and tries to smile. “It’s all right. It was sort of flattering, to be honest. I don’t get positive reviews very often.”

Another knock sounds at the door, and Kara leaves Lena’s side to open it. Her welcoming smile turns into shock and something close to panic when she sees whoever is on the other side.

“I – Alex, I thought –I _asked you not to_ -“

Alex brushes past Kara, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Sorry, Kara, but she insisted, and I sort of agree.”

Behind her a tall, leggy brunette enters the apartment and kisses Kara on the cheek. “I was _feeling better,_ so I didn’t want to miss game night!”

The woman is strangely familiar, although Lena has no idea where she might have seen her before. Her brow furrows as she tries to place her face – did she meet her at work? Does she work at a restaurant Lena frequents? Where on _earth_ –

The conundrum evaporates when the next person enters the apartment, shaking Kara’s limp hand and smiling far too brightly.

“ _…Jess?_ ” Lena squeaks, almost dropping her wineglass. Jess turns to her, and she doesn’t look _nearly_ as surprised as she should if this were truly an accident. In fact, she looks almost smug.

“Lena! I had no idea you knew Sam and Alex! What a surprise!”

Kara seems to shake out of whatever reverie she was in, and she grabs her sister’s elbow forcefully and pulls her towards the bedroom. Lena follows suit, seizing Jess’ arm and pulling her into the relative privacy of the kitchen.

“What are you doing here?!” She hisses, tugging until they’re out of earshot of the group.

“I was invited!” Jess insists, pulling her arm back with a huff. “I met Sam a few weeks ago, and she invited me to her girlfriend’s sister’s game night. It’s not weird. How was I supposed to know it was Kara?” Jess, for her many skills, is not a good liar, and Lena can sense the deception. What she can’t figure out is _why_.

“Jess, this is _so_ _weird_ –“ Lena wrings her hands. She was already anxious enough about tonight, and somehow Jess’ presence is making it worse.

“Come on, Lena, it’ll be fun.”

Sighing, Lena follows her to the living room and sits gingerly in a soft-looking armchair, while Jess takes a seat on the couch.

Finally Kara and her sister seem to finish their quiet argument, and Alex and Sam crowd onto the plush couch beside Jess. Kara, to her surprise, perches comfortably on the side of Lena’s chair and lays an arm over the back almost protectively.

“Okay. Who wants to play some games?”

Jess immediately chooses Winn as her partner, winking knowingly as Kara announces that she and Lena are going to ‘smash it’. Lena chokes on her wine at the wording, and Kara rubbing her back concernedly does nothing to help the flush creeping up her neck.

Lucy and James - being a long-term couple, and shockingly in sync - win the first round of Taboo, but soon enough Kara and Lena hit a stride during the second round and start catching up.

Jess, of course, doesn’t miss an oppourtunity to tease her for her increasingly obvious crush.

“You two really seem to have a connection, huh? How long have you known each other, again?” She smirks, taking a sip of her drink. Alex and Sam both grin, glancing at each other meaningfully. Lena frowns. She has no idea what’s going on, but everyone on the couch is acting strangely, and it’s putting her on edge.

“A few months! That’s it. Just since I moved in.” Kara blurts, and Sam arches an eyebrow.

_Okay, Kara too. What the hell is going on?_

“Seems like longer.” Alex offers, and Jess snorts. Thankfully, Sam changes the subject.

“So, Lena, what do you like to do for fun, besides play board games with cool people?” She asks, leaning back to regard Lena with a knowing look. Lena straightens slightly under her gaze. “Do you like to go out? There’s a few good bars downtown, right Alex?”

Jess pipes in unhelpfully. “Oh, Lena and I went to a great one a while ago –“

“Who wants to play Pictionary?” Kara practically yells, springing from her place at Lena’s side to grab the box and set up the board. She drops a handful of tiny pencils, scrambling to pick them up and set them back on the table.

“Jeez, Kara, are you okay?” James asks, scooping up a few pencils that roll his way.

“I’m fine! I just think maybe we should stop interrogating Lena and play some games. It is game night, isn’t it? Isn’t that what we do? Play games?” Kara says, her voice high-pitched and fast.

“We’re just trying to get to know a new friend.” Sam grins, and even Lena can tell that it’s genuine, despite her strange behaviour earlier. A warm ball takes up residence in Lena’s chest.  _A new friend_. She isn’t used to making friends, besides Kara.

“I’m sorry, Lena, Sam comes off strong sometimes.” Alex reassures her, elbowing Sam lightly. “She’s just very focused.”

“I can see why she and Jess get along so well.” Lena drawls, and the room fills with laughter as Jess sticks her tongue out playfully. The warm ball expands.  _Friends_. Sam and Jess seem to make an unspoken agreement to stop their tag-team assault, and Kara relaxes incrementally as the subject changes. After Kara casually nudges the board for the fourth time, Lucy comes to the rescue.

“Alright, Kara, keep your pants on. Let’s draw stuff.”

 A few rounds later, the party breaks up. Lena helps Kara take the wineglasses to the sink, and everyone starts to file out the door and into the hallway.

“You broke James and Lucy’s winning streak! You know you’re invited to every game night now, right? Prepare to see a lot more of us. You too, Jess!” Sam says, helping Alex with her jacket. Lena tries not to make it too obvious that she’s almost in tears. She’s never felt this before, this sort of easy acceptance into a group. And all because Kara dragged her to brunch.

“Next time won’t be so easy!” Lucy jokes, pointing at Kara. Kara just grins, slinging a casual arm over Lena’s shoulders.

“Hey, who says Jess and I won’t win next time?” Winn protests, crossing his arms. There’s a brief pause, before everyone bursts into laughter, including Jess herself.

“Keep dreaming, Winny boy.” She says, patting his cheek on her way out the door.

As everyone files out and the last goodbyes are shouted down the hall, Kara catches Lena’s wrist gently.

“Hey, um. Do you maybe want another glass of wine?”

 

* * *

 

 

By the time Lena gets home, it’s almost midnight. It’s not often that she stays up this late, but it got harder and harder to leave the more she drank. Kara’s couch is so comfortable, and Kara herself kept tucking her feet under Lena’s legs and wiggling her toes, and somehow the stress of spending a night with new people evaporates the moment they’re alone. It’s like Kara recharges her social energy. She’s Lena’s very own ball of sunshine.

She barely stays awake long enough to brush her teeth and change before she’s crawling into bed, hugging a pillow to her chest and remembering how it felt to have Kara sitting so close all night.

She’s eased out of the darkness of sleep by throbbing music. Opening her eyes, she’s surprised to see that she’s back at the club from months ago, the one that haunted her fantasies until she met Kara. It’s been a while since she’s thought about this. She’s alone this time – there’s a crowd on the dance floor, but no Jess – and across the bar she sees a familiar figure. Tall, blonde waves, dark clothes, strong arms.

Her heart picks up. She knows where this is going – where it always goes. The woman will drag her to the bathroom, and ravish her until she’s sated. She stands in anticipation as the woman walks over, but instead of taking her hand and leading her away, she comes closer until she’s pinning Lena to the table. Lena gasps, and arches into the pressure.

There’s hot breath at her ear, and a familiar voice rasps.

“Do you like that idea? Doing this in the middle of the floor, where everyone could see?”

The words are familiar – they’re just a few of the words that have haunted her since this stranger purred them in her ear that night, three fingers deep – but the voice is different. Or is it the same? Everything is a little hazy, and she pulls back slightly to look at the woman’s face.

Her heart nearly stops when looking back at her isn’t the usual vague amalgamation of features, but Kara. Kara, with her hair down and her glasses missing, flashing that familiar smile.

Kara leans in close, her breath mingling with Lena’s. Her hand is under Lena’s dress, slipping past her underwear, slipping inside her. People dance and drink in the open space around them and Kara is _inside her,_ biting at her neck, working her up until she’s clutching her shoulders for dear life. Everything about this is familiar when it shouldn’t be, Kara’s voice should feel out of place but it isn’t, and she can’t stop to process what that _means_ because Kara has added another finger and she’s having trouble focusing on anything that isn’t happening between her thighs.

Kara is whispering dirty things in her ear and she’s so close, just a few more seconds, her toes start to curl –

Lena jerks awake, sweaty and gasping.

She’s not at the club – she’s in her bed, at home, shaking slightly and painfully turned on.

Her dream is strangely vivid in her memory. She can’t help but feel like she’s on the verge of something important – it’s the same feeling she gets when she’s puzzling out a math problem, or when a prototype should be working but there’s something  _missing_  and she can’t figure out what. She leans back against the pillows, trying to calm down the inferno that the dream left behind – her thighs are sticky, and she’s toying with the idea of just giving in and taking care of the problem so that she can _think_ properly when she hears something strange.

On the other side of her bedroom wall, where she usually hears Kara singing at all hours, there’s a long, drawn-out groan.

_“Fuck…”_

It’s deep, guttural, and absolutely sexual. And it’s coming from Kara’s apartment.

 _She’s hooking up. Oh, god. She has someone over there._ She feels immediately ill, her arousal ebbing away into raging jealousy. It calms slightly when she actually takes a moment to consider the possibility.

_I left at almost midnight. Who could she possibly –_

As she puzzles it out, her ears pick up a secondary sound – a low buzzing.

_…a…vibrator?_

_Oh, god._

The ill feeling is replaced immediately with acute, overwhelming arousal. She’s throbbing again, so keyed up that she’s in genuine danger of coming just from the mental image – Kara with her legs spread, head thrown back, working herself over with a vibrator.

_Is she using her fingers, too?_

She hears another moan, and her own fingers creep towards her waistband. It’s probably wrong to get yourself off while listening to your friend doing the same thing one room over, but she’s starting to inch past the point of caring.

_Who is she thinking about?_

She isn’t sure she wants the answer to that. But then she hears another moan, and her question is inadvertently answered.

_“Lena…”_

Lena’s fingers freeze on their journey, as does most of the rest of her body.

_Did she – no. I’m projecting. I want it so badly that I’m hearing things. She couldn’t –_

But then it comes again, higher-pitched and slightly louder.

_“Lena – **god** –“_

Before Lena has time to process the rollercoaster that is the events of the last 30 seconds, she hears something that makes the entire world tilt on its axis.

As Kara works herself closer, her voice rises in a crescendo of little wails, rising higher and higher in pitch and volume until she reaches her peak, coming with a long, low groan.

Lena is on her feet before she even hears the buzzing stop.

_Oh my god._

As if she’s just solved a complicated equation, it all snaps into place with an almost physical click.

Kara’s strange behavior when they met in the hallway. Jess’ devious smiles, how she had eased off on bugging Lena about her love life lately. The bothersome feeling of familiarity when she met Sam. Kara’s coconut shampoo, the strange interrogation tonight, and the hauntingly familiar sound of Kara approaching orgasm – a sound that’s been burned into her memory for _months_.

She’s punched in Jess’ number before she finishes the thought.

“Hello?”

“It’s her.” Lena doesn’t have time for pleasantries right now. She has a theory that she’s almost certain is correct, and she needs Jess to confirm it.

“What? Lena?” Jess mutters groggily, and there’s a rustle of sheets. “You do realize it’s 2 in the morning, right? You’re my best friend, but these are sleeping hours.”

Lena brushes the question off, and asks her own again.

“Kara. She’s the girl from the bar. Isn’t she?”

There’s an uncomfortable silence, until finally Jess sighs in relief.

“Well, thank Christ. I was worried you’d never figure it out. We’ve all been trying to get you two crazy kids together since you met.”

“…what?” Lena balks, her bravado gone. She was expecting some confusion and a mutual sleuth session, not an immediate agreement. “You…you knew?”

“Of course I knew. I’m not blind.”

Lena ignores the half-hearted insult, focusing on the real issue.

“You knew and you didn’t _tell me_?”

Jess has the decency to sound guilty at that. “Okay, yes, but Kara made me promise!”

“…what?” Lena whispers, her heart dropping. “Kara knows? Has she…this whole time?” Like a rolodex, her mind flips through every memory since they met. Every lunch date, every night spent drinking wine and opening herself up. Was Kara lying to her the whole time? Keeping this from her?

“Lena, you can’t be mad at her, she was scared –“ But Lena is already hanging up. She’s in the hallway seconds later, propelled by hurt and rage and a burning need to know for sure. To know _everything_.

Her fist connects with Kara’s door four times, each pound harder than the last. She hears something hit the floor, and then quiet swearing.

“Just a second –“

Lena knocks again, more insistently this time, and finally the door swings open to reveal Kara, looking dishevelled and confused. She’s wearing a pink checkered flannel pyjama set, and the buttons are done up crookedly. Lena’s heart swells with affection instinctually, only to be doused by anger.

“Lena? Are you okay? It’s 2am.”

She can see it now. She steps forward, reaching up and sliding Kara’s glasses off slowly. Kara blinks confusedly, squinting slightly.

“Lena…?”

Next she steps even further into Kara’s space, reaching around to gently pull Kara’s hair from its hasty bun and shaking it out so it falls over her shoulders in a slight curl. Kara swallows, her confusion gone. She’s starting to understand, and her resignation tells Lena everything she needs to know.

 “Why didn’t you tell me?” She breathes, fingers still combing through Kara’s hair.

“I thought…you didn’t remember. I thought you didn’t…want me.”

“Of course I remembered you. That night was…I’ve never done anything like that. I really liked you. I thought – there were a lot of things I thought.” Lena says, her hands leaving Kara’s hair and rubbing her own arms.

“Such as?”

“I thought you left that night because you only wanted a hookup. I thought you – Kara, my friend – were probably straight.”

“Luckily, you were wrong on all counts.” Kara tries to joke, smiling weakly, but Lena shakes her head.

“All this time…you were lying to me. You made _Jess_ lie to me. I don’t understand –“

“I was scared.” Kara interjects, and Lena scoffs.

“Scared of what?”

“That this would happen! This exact thing that’s happening right now!” Kara looks so dejected, her eyes swimming with tears as she wraps her arms around herself. Some of Lena’s initial anger seems to ease, and she has to admit that she can see where Kara was coming from. To be honest, had the situation been reversed, Lena is absolutely sure that she would have done the same thing.

But there’s still hurt there – Lena has been pining - _pining_ , for god’s sake - for months now, and Kara spent that whole time knowing that they had hooked up already and doing nothing about it. It’s pretty clear what that means, and the reality of it hits her hard.

“What could have possibly scared you so much? Why couldn’t you just tell me the truth?” She asks, her voice rising with barely-repressed emotion. “I’ve shared more about myself with you thank with anyone else in my life – all this time, we’ve been getting so close, and you’ve been lying, and I don’t understand why you couldn’t just _tell me_ –“

“Because I was falling for you!”

Lena blinks, her anger draining away as she struggles to process those impossible words.

Kara goes white, immediately stammering an explanation. “God – I’m sorry, I – I like you so much, Lena. I was _so_ into you that night but you disappeared, and then I saw you in the hallway and you were so beautiful and I got to know you and you’re _amazing_ , you’re smart and funny and kind and I fell in – I’m – I was scared to lose you. I thought if you found out…”

“I – you – what?” Lena is still a few sentences behind, one phrase playing over and over in her head. _Because I was falling for you._

_I was falling for you. I like you so much. I fell in -_

_…she likes me?_

Kara is still rambling, her voice getting consistently higher and her nervousness bubbling through in the jerky movements of her hands. She’s twisting the sleeves of her pyjamas, her shoulders tight. She looks _terrified_. Lena sees the last few months with a new clarity that her anger hadn’t allowed her before – Kara recognized her that day in the hallway, and she didn’t recognize Kara in return. She must have felt like Lena didn’t care about their night together. Kara still wanted to get to know her – she put a lot of effort into bringing Lena out of her shell. She was moaning Lena’s name a few minutes ago.

_She likes me._

Before she can over-think it, Lena seizes Kara by the front of her shirt and pulls her into a hard kiss.

It comes rushing back, then – Kara tastes like minty toothpaste instead of rum and coke, but her lips feel the same, her hair smells like coconut, and Lena can feel hard muscle under her clenched hands just like that night at the club. After a moment of shock, Kara comes alive – she grabs Lena’s hips roughly, and pulls her closer as Lena’s hands slide up and into her hair. It isn’t like last time – there’s no moment of awkwardness, no testing of the waters before they lose themselves. There’s just heat and relief, months of pressure breaking with exhilaratingly familiar kisses.

It’s Kara who pulls away first, breathless. “Lena –“

“We’ll talk after.” Lena tightens her grip on Kara’s shirt, unwilling to stop this magic and possibly ruin whatever chance she has here. Talking means slowing down and allowing time for doubt and fear to distract her. “For now, just please, please –“ She pushes on Kara’s chest, walking them into the apartment and kicking the door shut as she pulls her down for another toe-curling kiss.

Finally her hips bump into the kitchen island, and Lena presses herself to the length of Kara’s body.

Warm hands slide under her tank top to grip her waist, and Lena can feel the hint of stickiness on Kara’s fingers. The thought of it, of what Kara had been doing just minutes ago while fantasizing about her, is enough to awaken the same reckless hunger from their first night together - the overpowering feeling that drove her to follow an intoxicating stranger into that bathroom.

She fumbles at the buttons of Kara’s pajama top, succeeding at undoing the first two before getting fed up with her own clumsy fingers. She grasps it and pulls hard, feeling the satisfying pop and scatter of buttons as Kara’s chest is finally exposed to her. She has a brief self-conscious moment, worried that Kara might be upset at the loss of her shirt, but Kara just groans and shucks it, letting it fall to the floor and pulling her close again. The worry is then eclipsed entirely by a realization as her hands slide up Kara’s twitching stomach to graze the underside of her breasts – Kara isn’t wearing a bra.

Lena manages to rip herself away from Kara’s lips long enough to look down. Kara’s chest is heaving, her rosy nipples half-hardened already in the open air, and Lena feels the overwhelming urge to taste.

Not willing to waste the opportunity, she leans down and takes one into her mouth. Kara’s reaction is instantaneous.

“Lena!” She gasps, one hand gripping the edge of the wooden island and the other flying to bury itself in dark hair. She arches into Lena’s mouth, her head tipping back. “God –“

Lena switches briefly to the other nipple, savoring the taste and texture of Kara’s skin and her breathy cries. Kara’s stomach flexes as she arches into the sensation, and Lena follows the tempting line of her body, teeth scraping over the muscle and leaving brief pink marks. Kara’s breathing intensifies – by the time Lena drops to her knees on the floor and hooks her fingers into the waistband of Kara’s pants, it’s uneven enough that Lena worries she might pass out.

Before she can slide them any further down, Kara seems to snap out of it, and stops her with a gentle tug on her hair.

“Lena, wait. Bed. Please - I want you in my bed.”

Kara leads her there, and it feels surreal – Kara and the girl from the club are starting to really reconcile in her mind, and she hates herself for not seeing it before, but she can understand how she missed it. Having her hair down doesn’t change Kara’s face, but it softens it, makes some features stand out that almost disappear when she pulls it into a ponytail. The glasses hide the sharpness of her cheekbones, and draw attention away from the shape of her eyes. But more than that, it’s her demeanor.

The Kara that she’s been getting to know these last few months, the one she’s fallen for, is gentle and clumsy and a little bit awkward. She laughs with her whole body, and never misses an opportunity to make Lena smile.

This Kara, the half-clothed one with chiseled abs that’s slowly pushing Lena down onto the bed and crawling up to hover over her, is all confidence and sexuality. She presses herself easily between Lena’s spread legs, and swallows her gasp in a searing kiss like it’s second-nature.

It’s two sides of the same coin, two pieces of a puzzle that Lena hadn’t thought to put together until now.  

“Are you sure about this?” Kara mumbles against her lips. “We can still stop and talk about it –“

“No talking.” Lena gasps, biting hard on Kara’s lower lip and spreading her legs wider. “Just take me.”

Kara wastes no more time. She rucks up Lena’s shirt, sliding her hands underneath and guiding it up until it’s bunched just under her chin. Lena pulls it off entirely and throws it to the side, and she barely has time to feel self-conscious before Kara’s hands and lips are on her, somehow everywhere at once as she palms Lena’s breasts, sucks dark nipples into her mouth, drags her teeth down to nip at her belly and nuzzle the displayed skin there.

“So beautiful.” She murmurs, rubbing her face against the soft swell of Lena’s stomach under her bellybutton. “Perfect.” She kisses it once, twice, three times, open-mouthed, and Lena feels the praise wash over her like a warm tide. Ordinarily she feels awkward and stilted under such focused compliments, but Kara just makes her feel _wonderful_. Her curves aren’t something she’s usually praised for - they’re something she generally dresses to hide, in fact - but Kara likes them. Kara thinks she’s beautiful. Kara is running her hands over every inch and looking at her in absolute awe, and Lena feels it in her bones.

Next Kara tugs at her pants, looking up at her for confirmation. Lena nods, lifting her hips, and Kara slides them down her thighs, kissing the newly bared skin as it’s revealed.

“Yours, too.” Lena manages to gasp, and Kara hurries to pull her own pants down and lets them fall to the floor before clambering back onto the bed. Immediately she’s between her thighs again, hands sliding over Lena’s knees and down as she gravitates downwards. Her nose brushes the waistband of Lena’s panties, and she pulls at them with her teeth. She can’t seem to decide where she wants to focus first, spreading Lena’s legs wider apart and kissing every inch of skin and _looking_  until Lena feels acutely exposed.

The feeling increases exponentially when Kara slides her panties down as well, tossing them to the side and spreading her open again. And then, she _stares_.

She stares directly between Lena’s legs, mouth wet and slightly agape. She licks her lips slowly, her teeth following and sinking into her bottom lip. Her hands still smooth over Lena’s thighs, the slow touch helping to calm Lena’s immediate discomfort, but eventually it mounts until she has to ask -

“Kara? Why are you –“ But without warning, Kara has already practically dived in, spreading her thighs almost obscenely wide and burying her face in Lena’s cunt.

Lena cries out, her head slamming back into the pillows as her clit is enveloped in a hot mouth - Kara’s tongue flicks over it and then swirls before moving down to lick broad, messy stripes. She can hear the roar of her own pulse and the wet sounds of Kara’s mouth working and tiny, breathless sounds, which she swiftly realizes aren’t coming from her but instead seem to be coming from Kara. She’s moaning quietly as she eats her out, and it makes Lena burn even hotter. She drapes her shaking legs over Kara’s back, digging her heels in, and Kara just moans louder and tries to pull Lena impossibly closer to her mouth, her hands digging into soft hips.

 “Lena, you taste so good, _god_ – you taste _so fucking good_.”

Lena whimpers at the words, at the intensity of Kara’s voice and how she spreads Lena open with her fingers and stares at her like she’s _starved_ for it. There’s a string of slick connecting Kara’s shiny lips and Lena’s centre and somehow the sight of it is almost unbearable - her legs spread wider, and she buries her hand in Kara’s hair, clenching her fist and _pulling_.

And Kara’s tongue is back – Lena honestly can’t tell how much is her own arousal and how much is from Kara’s mouth, but Kara’s entire lower face is shiny, and by all accounts she’s loving it. She’s teasing Lena, working her up and taking her time, burying her tongue as deep as possible and deliberately ignoring her clit in favour of slow, messy strokes.

Her thighs are shaking, twitching with every slight graze over her clit. The almost-touches are excruciating, Kara’s obvious enthusiasm and arousal making her burn hotter while her unfocused touches keep her on the edge indefinitely. She’s never had anyone go down on her like this before – Kara is making it obvious that the endgame isn’t to make Lena come so she can return the favour, but to just… _savour_ it. Kara is lost in her, and the thought is unthinkably erotic.

Finally, Lena breaks.

“Please –“ She gasps, pulling Kara’s hair harder and arching up as much as she can with those strong hands holding her hips. “Kara, god, I can’t take anymore, please, just make me come –“

Kara slides three fingers inside her and swirls tight, hard circles on her clit and in seconds she’s _there_ , her legs clamping around Kara’s head as she shouts to the ceiling. It’s hard and fast and so _good_ and when she finally relaxes onto the mattress, sweaty and spent, Kara continues to kiss and nip at her thighs until she starts to recover. Finally she lays her cheek there, looking up at Lena through the V of her trembling legs.

“I’ve wanted to do that for months.”

All Lena can do is laugh. She’s not fully capable of speaking quite yet, but the humour of their apparent mutual lesbian pining isn’t lost on her. She tugs on Kara’s hair, and she follows until Lena can pull her down for a kiss.

“Straddle me. I want to touch you.” Lena murmurs, and she immediately scrambles to comply. Soon enough she’s riding Lena’s hand and Lena’s face is half-buried in her chest, alternating between each breast with her tongue and teeth as Kara holds herself up on shaky arms. When she comes it’s with a shout of Lena’s name, and a gush of heat that leaves a glistening trail over Lena’s wrist and onto her stomach. She collapses forward, nipping gently at Lena's swollen lips as she heaves shaky breaths.

Lena basks in all of it - in the stickiness of their sweaty bodies pressed together and how Kara’s long hair is stuck to both of their faces and the hot, rhythmic pulses of Kara’s cunt around her fingers.

She flexes her fingers gently, swiping her thumb over Kara’s clit, and Kara whimpers into her neck as her hips bear down again.

“Lena –“

“Again? Please?” Lena breathes, repeating the motion and feeling Kara tighten in response. This can’t end yet – stopping means giving herself time to overthink. The idea of not being inside Kara anymore, after months of waiting, is intolerable.

“God.“ Kara moans brokenly, grinding down and biting at Lena’s shoulder. “Yes.”

Lena feels a hand slip down and cup her experimentally, resting lightly over her clit.

“Can I?“ Kara’s fingers shift slightly, sliding through her slick folds, and Lena nods enthusiastically. She tries to spread her legs further, but Kara’s are bracketing hers – it takes some re-arranging, but soon enough their legs are intertwined and Kara slides three fingers inside her at once and she flexes her fingers inside Kara and they both gasp and arch at the sudden, undeniable feeling of closeness.

It’s unhurried, this time. The frenetic energy has burned away, and it’s left behind a naked passion so raw that Lena’s first instinct is to shy away from it. It’s too real, too much like what she’s trying to avoid, but it feels too good to stop and Kara’s forehead is pressed to hers whenever they aren’t kissing. Their bodies are moving in tandem, a slow and deliberate rhythm, and Kara’s eyes keep meeting hers and she’s murmuring into Lena’s mouth – recitations of affection and trust and Lena’s name, whispered in near-reverence. Lena’s bent knee shifts until it’s wrapped around Kara’s waist, opening her up even more, and even their shared breaths are almost synchronized.

This isn’t sex, Lena realizes. This isn’t fucking. It’s deeper than that, and when she feels the pressure build at the base of her spine and start to radiate outwards, her eyes lock fully with Kara’s and something else mingles with the pleasure. Kara’s eyes are shiny, and full of aching, obvious emotion.

They’re making love.

“ _Kara –“_

Her eyes slam shut and she fights to keep her hand moving as the pressure breaks, washing over her with waves of smooth relief. It’s more than a physical release – the ache in her chest releases too, the dam of emotion she’s been holding back ever since she admitted her feelings to herself, and she feels her eyes prickle as Kara tightens on her fingers and bears down, groaning.

For a moment they stay there, eyes closed and still buried deep. Kara moves first – she can feel gentle kisses being laid across her temple, where she now realizes a tear has tracked down and into her hairline. The kisses trail up and over her eyes, a gentle peck on each lid, and then down to her lips.

Finally, Lena opens her eyes. Kara is suspended above her, smiling, crystal blue eyes waiting to meet green.

“Hi.”

Lena laughs quietly, reaching up with her free hand to cup Kara’s cheek. “Hi.”

“So, um. About that talk?”

Lena sighs, easing her fingers free reluctantly as Kara does the same. She slips them into her mouth as Kara flops onto her side, and the taste is almost enough to throw this ‘talk’ out the window and chase it to its source until they both pass out, but Kara is looking at her expectantly, and she has to admit that this is somewhat necessary.

“Right. So. You like me.”

Kara laughs, wrapping an arm around Lena’s middle and propping herself up on an elbow. “What gave that away? Was it when I was going down on you just now?”

Lena smacks her arm gently, smiling. “Be glib all you want, but you’ve spent months knowing who I am and not making a move.”

“Well, I can’t believe you didn’t recognize me in the first place. Like, glasses and a ponytail and you completely forget what I look like? Really?” Kara’s eyes are sparkling, her words softened by her infectious happiness. She traces gentle, slightly damp patterns over Lena’s stomach with her fingers and Lena lets herself reciprocate the affection, running her fingers through Kara’s tangled hair.

“In my defence, it was dark that night! And you had makeup on, and…”

“You’re a _scientist.”_

“Shut up.”

Kara laughs, still teasing. “You created a prototype _teleportation machine_. You’re a certified genius and you were confused by glasses and a ponytail?”

“I swear to god, Kara –“ Lena warns, but she can’t hide her smile, and it makes the intimidation factor plummet.

“There was an honest-to-god _hoverboard_ in your lab –“

Lena cuts her off with a kiss. It still feels like a dream, that she can do this – an hour ago she was absolutely secure in her knowledge that her feelings for Kara were unrequited, and now she’s spread out in her bed, still covered in very physical evidence to the contrary. Her mouth still tastes like Lena, and she trails her fingers down Kara’s back as their lips part again. Kara settles down and lays her head on Lena’s shoulder with a happy sigh.

“So, how did you figure it out?”

Lena hesitates, her hand pausing halfway through tracing Kara’s shoulderblades.

“Is that important?”

Kara raises her head a bit, her chin digging into Lena’s shoulder. “Well, yeah. I want to know what your moment of realization was.”

Lena swallows, and clears her throat.

“I, uh. Heard you.”

Kara frowns, looking confused. “You heard me? Heard me what? We’ve been hanging out for weeks. It can’t have been my _voice_ that tipped you off.”

Lena purses her lips, taking a deep breath. “No. I heard you, uh. Getting off.”

There’s a few beats of silence, and Kara blinks at her, uncomprehending.

“…wait, _what_?!”

“Okay, you know what, it is _not_ my fault that you come loudly, okay?” Lena argues immediately, feeling inexplicably guilty for overhearing Kara’s private moment but unable to really regret it, considering the circumstances. “I heard it and I remembered that night and it all came together.”

“You can hear me through the wall?!” Kara wails, covering her face. “And I was – before you came over –“

“These walls are thin. And you’re loud. I’ve been hearing you singing for months.” Lena tries to comfort her, knowing immediately that she’s failed when Kara groans.

“Oh my _god_.” She buries her face somewhere near Lena’s armpit, making vague embarrassed noises. “I can’t believe you heard me.”

“Kara, it’s fine! It turned out okay, right?  I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t.”

Kara peeks through her fingers, and finally drops her hands. “Yeah. That’s true. It’s just…embarrassing.”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, you can watch me do that sometime. For the sake of fairness.”

Kara’s eyes widen immediately, and she perks up, propping herself on her elbows. Lena laughs at her abrupt enthusiasm. “Really? Now? Can we…now?”

Lena bites her lip, spreading her legs slightly. “Find a comfortable place to sit, Miss Danvers.”

They fall asleep with the rising sun, pressed together with Kara’s arm around Lena’s middle and their fingers intertwined.

Lena is woken up exactly three hours later by loud pounding on the door, and familiar voices on the other side.

“Kara, we know you’re in there! Open up!”

Kara herself groans loudly, pulling Lena closer and nuzzling between her shoulders. “No. Nope. Nuh uh.”

Lena sighs, rubbing her eyes tiredly. “What is your sister doing here at 9 in the morning?”

Kara’s reply is indecipherable – her face is pressed to Lena’s back, and she refuses to relinquish her hold. Lena squirms until they’re face to face, and Kara is squinting at her blearily. “You should answer it before she breaks it down.”

With a huff, Kara finally rolls out of bed, throwing on what looks like a pair of boxer briefs and Lena’s discarded shirt and stomping over to the door. She throws it open with a scowl, glowering at Alex and Sam, who still have their fists upraised.

 _“What?”_ She snaps. Lena reclines on the bed to listen, still out of sight.

Sam brushes past her and into the apartment, setting a coffee cup on the counter. “Jess called last night. She seemed worried, and apparently Lena isn’t answering her phone.” Kara snorts, taking a healthy swig of the coffee. “And she said Lena seemed upset last night and might have come over here, so we wanted to make sure you were okay.”

_Jess. Of course._

“Well, I’m fine.” Kara skirts the obvious question, and leans against the counter. “As you can see.”

“Yeah, and you also have hickeys all over your neck. And shoulders. And chest?” Alex points out, and Lena smiles to herself. _Oops._

“Look, we’re both fine, so if you guys could just leave –“

Alex and Sam both protest, and finally Lena slides out of bed, wrapping herself in Kara’s sheets. She pokes her head out of the bedroom and into the living area, and three heads snap up to look at her with wide eyes.

“Firstly, good morning. And secondly, you two have meddled enough. You can come back later.” Lena says decisively, and Sam yells in delight, already pulling out her phone.

“ _I knew it!_ I _knew_ it smelled like sex in here. I’m calling Jess.”

Kara finally sets her coffee cup down, taking each of their elbows and guiding them to the door. “Okay, that’s it. Out of my apartment, and don’t come back until lunchtime. No, dinner. Actually, just come back tomorrow, okay?” She closes the door on their protesting faces and locks it, leaning against the wood and smiling at Lena.

“We never should have let Sam and Jess become friends.” Lena says, as Kara makes her way back towards the bedroom. “They’re too powerful together.”

“Mhmm.” Kara nods, her mind clearly elsewhere as she pulls Lena close. Smiling, Lena drops the sheet, and immediately she’s swept up into Kara’s arms, being carried back to the bed.

As Kara pins her to the mattress again and starts to kiss her way down Lena’s body, she makes a mental note.

_Make sure Jess gets a raise. And maybe a new car. Tomorrow._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Truly, We Are All Jess. Hope you guys enjoyed the ride! Come yell at me on tumblr @jazzfordshire


End file.
